HENCE? 



HITHER? 





a 




-ARTHUR-PiLLSBURY-I]ODBE. -»- 




Book.'B lo4- ^^ 

Copyright N" 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 



MAN 

THINGS 

OTHER THINGS 



BY 

ARTHUR PILLSBURY DODGE 

(Member of the New York Bar; Founder of 
The New England Magazine; Author of 
"The Truth of It," Etc. 



> • • 



Price $1.50 Postpaid 

Published at the Ariel Press 

West WOOD Mass. 



iUBRARYofCONG'^^.ESS 
Two Copies Receive^: 

JAN 3 1S08 

Coi>yri«ni tntry 

\/Voj '^ "in 

GLASS4- XXc. NO. 

'copy b. 






^^''' 






Copyright 1907 
by Arthur Pillsbury Dodge 



CONTENTS 
PART I 



Chapte 


r 


Page 


I. 


Man ! The Predicate 


7 


II. 


Man! Whence? 


10 


III. 


Man! Why? 


12 


IV. 


Man! Whither? 

PART II 


18 


I. 


Religion : Its Reality .... 


26 


IL 


God: The Eternal Truth .... 


40 


III. 


The Word 


46 


IV. 


The Bible: Truth of It .... 


50 


V. 


Prophecy : The Plain Facts Thereof . 


63 


VI. 


Symbolic Words and Signs of the Bible 


78 


VII. 


A Layman's Sermon to Clergymen . 
PART III 


103 


I. 


Signs of The Kingdom .... 


. 109 


II. 


The Kingdom of God on Earth . . . . 


118 


III. 


Christ's Ratification of Prophets 


125 


IV. 


Jonah and the Whale— The Real Truth . 


U6 


V. 


A Superficial Bible Student . . . . 
PART IV 


137 


I. 


*'The Voice of the People," by Andrew D, 






White ; Reviewed and Corrected 


144 


II. 


The Race Problem— The Solution . 


164 


III. 


Capital and Labor Problem Solved 


178 


IV. 


Heresy — "The Crapsey Case"— The Involved 


[ 




Truth Fully Explained . . . . 


187 


V. 


"Eleven Questions" Noted Religionists Could no 


t 




Answer; Here Answered . 


206 


VI. 


The Forceful, The Erratic George Bernard Shav 


7 221 


VII. 


Remarkable Prophecies Fulfilled 


227 


VIII. 


The Cause of Crime 


238 


IX. 


Peace— The Only Way to Bring It About 


253 




Index ........ 


264 



"0 Children of Men! 

Do ye know why We have created ye from one 
clay? That no one should glorify himself over the 
other. Be ye ever mindful of how ye were created. 
Since We created ye all from the same substance^ 
ye must be as one soul, walking with the same feet, 
eating with one mouth and living in one land, that 
ye may manifest with your being^ and by your 
deeds and actions, the signs of unity and the spirit 
of oneness. This is My Counsel to ye, people 
of Lights! Therefore follow it, that ye may attain 
the fruits of holiness from the Tree of Might and 
Power. 

''In the Name of the Mighty Speaker! 

O ye possessors of intelligence and hearing, the 
the first melody of the Beloved is: O nightingale 
of Significance, seek no refuge save in the rose- 
garden of significances ! messenger of the Solo- 
mon of Love, dwell not but in the Sheba of the 
Beloved! phoenix of Immortality, choose no 
abode except in the Mount of Faithfulness ! This 
is thy station if thou art soaring to the Place- 
less on the wings of Life. 

"0 Friend! 

In the garden of the heart plant only fiowers of 
Love, and withdraw not from clinging to the night- 
ingale of love and yearning. Esteem the friend- 
ship of the just, but withdraw both mind and hand 
from the company of the wicked. 



''O Sons of Earth! 

Know the truth that a hearty wherein lingers the 
least trace of envy ^ shall never attain unto My Im- 
mortal Dominion^ nor feel the fragrances of purity 
from My Holy Kingdom, 

''0 Son of Glory! 

Be swift in the Way of Holiness^ and step into 
the Heavens of Intimacy. Clear the heart with 
the burnish of the Spirit^ and hetalce thyself to 
the Presence of the Most High!'' 

'^Hidden Words'' From Baha' Ullah^ whichy 
translated into English^ reads: The Glory of 
God! 



WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 



PART I CHAPTER I 




MAN— THE PREDICATE 

RUTH ; plain, simple.Truth ; prac- 
tical Truth to the point, directly 
applied ; Law,Order, everywhere, 
in everything ! These things in 
homely simplicity, yet in magni- 
ficent grandeur ! These things 
are sought for by all true souls ! These things 
everyone needs and must have ! 

Together we will proceed on a little prospecting 
tour. Let us venture, boldly, yet humbly, into 
the trackless jungles of human, even inhuman, ex- 
periences, conditions, errors and falsehoods! Let 
us strive with the lamp of earnest and energetic 
endeavor to throw upon the scene, yea, the vari- 
ous scenes of life, the light of god's eternal 
truth! Thus shall we make possible, aye, cer- 
tain the discovery of how to break away from 
the foolishly vain inventions, imaginations, dog- 
matisms, mysteries ; the traditions and falsehoods 
of the dark ages, which, instead of having become 
filtered and purified during the lapse of centuries, 
have become augmented and intensified to such 
evil purpose, as to swerve us, the human family. 



WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 



wide of the true course, leaving us cast high and 
dry on the desert island of farness away from God 
and His Spiritual Truth, in a state of woeful dead- 
ness to the realities of Truth and Life ! 

We are certainly created for Truth. Truth is 
for us. Let us have Truth! We shall supplant 
the letter of barrenness and misieadings with the 
spirit of the glorious realities! 

The marvellous movements of the vast universe 
of inhabited worlds ; the magnificent workings of 
nature's laws, as observed on all sides ; the known 
fact, for instance, that the exact time of an eclipse 
may be unerringly determined and foretold hun- 
dreds of years in advance : these and myriads of 
great things within human observation, constitute 
positive proof of the existence of perfect, axio- 
matic, sublime, eternal Law! 

With a due contemplation of these matters, cou- 
pled with the habit of looking to our loftiest con- 
ception of God for guidance and direction, and 
possessing something of an adequate conception of 
Truth, it becomes clearl}^ self-evident that Supreme 
Intelligence must, in the nature of things, be at 
the source of and forever preside over universal 
and perfect Law! 

"Cause and Effect" is Positive Law. 

There is no such thing as obtaining something 
from nothing. Back of everything, of every "ef- 
fect" observable, there is, there must be an ade- 
quate first cause or basic and eternal principle. 



MAN — THE PREDICATE 9 

Inasmuch then, as works, involving intelligence 
and reasoning powers, are in evidence on all sides, 
and that coincident therewith is the clear manifes- 
tation of immutable Law, it is at once self-evident 
that "adequate first Cause" is and must be perfec- 
tion. Thus, as man, though far from perfection, 
does possess in some degree something of those 
perfect qualities, which we naturally and advisedly 
contemplate as Divine Attributes of Eternal Caus- 
ation — perfect intelligence, will, reason, justice, 
judgment, love, spirit, individuality and identity, 
we are forced, whether we so will or not, to the 
irrefutable conclusion that there exists, and always 
has existed, the Uncreate, the Eternal Creator 
and Sustainer of all in the vast universe of worlds, 
God, Father, the Supreme, the Divine Intelli- 
gence Presiding over perfect Law involved in and 
regulating every conceivable scope of intelligence 
and action ! 



WHENCE! 



CHAPTER II 




F we have reasoned wisely and well, 
rationally and logically, we behold our 
starting point, an open vista of Light 
penetrating the dark jungle of past 
human experience and error. If we are clear re- 
garding Law and its Supreme Head ; especially 
if we are consciously apprehensive of the eternal 
Law of Cause and Effect, we must reach, we have 
reached, the indisputable conclusion, being reason- 
able and logical thinkers, that man has his begin- 
ning in individual identity when he is born into 
this world, this kindergarten training school for 
the countless aofes to come! 

It being true that the Hebrew root signification 
of the word "Creation" means the fashioning and 
forming and putting in orderly condition, shape 
and being, rather than the making of something 
from nothing, as hitherto generally believed ; that 
all in the material or physical world — the mineral, 
vegetable and animal kingdoms — are constantly 
subject to and undergoing change and reversion ; 
that spirit only is exempt from such conditions of 
change and reversion and is as changeless as the 
self-existent principle of mathematics ; that God 
is Spirit ; that man is created in the Image and 



WHENCE? 11 



Likeness of God (Gen. 1, 26-27), that is to say, 
that man is being created or grown and developed 
onward and upward unto a spiritual state or con- 
dition of likeness or Oneness with God, by be- 
coming characterized, as taught by Jesus Christ, 
with His Characteristics or Divine Attributes of 
Love, Truth and Spirit, it becomes forcefully, ir- 
refutably evident to man that the essence of his 
identical and individual being came forth from the 
eternally existent Spirit of God and is destined 
to go on and on forever ! 

Therefore God, the Eternal Creator and Sus- 
tainer, embodying the Divine Attributes of Per- 
fect Love, Wisdom, Judgment, Will, Goodness, 
Harmony, Mercy and all that is, must be and is 
the first cause of man. 

Are not we able, then, to answer that query 
Whence of Man ? 

Man is the manifestation, the effect of, comes 
out from his Adequate Causation — GOD ! 



WHY? 



CHAPTER III 




HAT is the real object or purpose of 
man on earth? There must be a great 
purpose ? Can anything be without a 
reason or purpose ? Is it not reason- 
able to hold as a fact that so long as there remains 
a mystery unsolved, a growth and development of 
ourselves so incomplete that we are still ignorant 
and unpossessed of the power of knowing and 
communicating, consciously, with the Author of 
our being, our real Father, that there can be no 
doubt regarding the proposition that we are and 
ever have been intended to attain to the great sta- 
tion of knowledge of and oneness with God the 
real Parent? 

There is a great lesson for us in the human in- 
fant, the most helpless of all created objects of the 
animal kingdom at birth. The little kitten knows 
enough to draw away from danger, but the human 
infant, the highest of the world creation, is obliv- 
ious to danger and will not exercise the power of 
self-preservation. There is deep significance here. 
The lower animals are governed by instinct, though 
at times it may be dij9Scult to differentiate between 
instinct and reason. It has often been found that 
horses and dogs and other animals think. It is 



WHY? 13 



clear that the lower animals have within their 
power to use at the very beginning of existence 
something which tells them what to do to avoid 
injury and in attending to necessary duties, even 
in their first experience in reproducing their spe- 
cies, and wholly without exterior information or 
assistance. But man, who has only a modicum of 
this instinct, nevertheless has to be educated from 
infancy to maturity I If an All-wise Creator pro- 
vides the lower animals so bcaatifullv with what 
we call "instinct," or that interior primary knowl- 
edge or intelligence which directs them through 
all critical and trying ordeals, is there any likeli- 
hood, any possibility that the highest of created 
beings, man, was unprovided for, was neglected? 
No ! A thousand times no ! 

It being clearly evident, as hereinbefore dis- 
cussed, that man was created and destined for the 
incomparably lofty station of oneness with his 
Father, and that, being devoid of conscious poyv^er 
for self help and protection at his time of early 
infancy, it is perfect!}^ apparent that the plan for 
man's guidance from earliest, helpless infancy, 
contemplated his being guided and instructed from 
exterior sources ! What is natural and clearly ob- 
served in this respect touching the individual, is 
equally true in the larger sense applying to the 
race of mankind as a whole I 

We have proof that man existed on earth for 
hundreds of thousands if not millions of years 



14 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

prior to the Adamic era. It is now known that 
Adam was a prophet or teacher of God, and not 
the first one either, though the first one known to 
ordinary history. There have been great epoch- 
marking prophets at the head of great cycles, or 
religious dispensations, and there have been a far 
greater number of lesser prophets. While all have 
been educators from God to the world, the former 
have been inaugurators of systems of instruction 
and enlightenment known as religious revelations, 
such as those through Abraham, Moses, Jesus and 
Mohammed. Each successive one has been greater 
or more full and complete according to the grow- 
ing and developing needs of mankind, yet at the 
basis it has always been one and the same eternal 
truth of and from God, the Source of all! 

We may look upon this world as a vast school- 
house ; God the principal ; the prophets and mes- 
sengers of God, the teachers or educators ; the en- 
tire world of humanity, the scholars needing and 
receiving education ! There is much further edu- 
cation and development to achieve before we get 
what we are here to accomplish. This we know 
as a positive fact because we are far from being 
spiritually perfected in the Image or Likeness of 
God, who is Spirit and Love. 

Thus it is readily admitted that creation and in- 
spiration are as much of fact today as in any for- 
mer age. 

Is it not out of all reason to suppose that man 



WHY? 15 



was put here in the world for merely that troub- 
lous existence to be terminated with the grave ? 
Yea, verily, there must be a great purpose in his 
existence. Let us reason to ourselves a bit. Let 
us see why we are here. The following quoted 
words, however, seem to answer that question 
masterfully and beyond doubt : 

"The hearts were created for the love of God, 
the eyes were given for perceiving His Signs, the 
ears created for hearing the Voice of the Merciful, 
and the tongues were given for Hia Commemora- 
tion at morn and eve. 

"It is incumbent upon ye to appreciate these 
gifts, for these bounties benefit ye, and through 
them your faces will shine in the Kingdom of God, 
and your spirits will be revived through the Eter- 
nal Life. 

"O servant of the Merciful! Know with true 
certainty that man was not created for the life of 
this world, as it is mortal and there is no certainty 
therein. Is it possible that this great creation and 
glorious being should terminate in mortality ! Is 
it meet that the result of God's great creation, 
which is unlimited, that is, man, should live in 
this world a certain number of days, with many 
difficulties, troubles, without repose and rest, and 
then die and end in mortality? No ! Verily, by 
truth, this is not meet ! Nay, rather, this glorious 
being and grand creation was made for the Eternal 
Life, Spiritual Happiness, Revelations of the Heart, 



WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 



Divine Inspiration, Heavenly Perfections, and 
Virtues of the Kingdom. 

"Therefore, arise with all power in this Great 
Cause, and follow the Teachings of God, whereby 
we may attain the life of the Kingdom, which is 
spiritual, eternal and never ending. . . /' 

"This earthly world is narrow, dark and fright- 
ful : rest cannot be imagined and happiness really 
is non-existent ; and every one is captured in the 
net of sorrow, and is day and night enslaved by 
the chain of calamity. There is no one who is at 
all free or at rest from grief and affliction. Still 
as the believers of God are turning to the Limit- 
less World they do not become very depressed and 
sad by disastrous calamities, —there is something 
to console them ; but the others in no way have 
anything to comfort them at the time of calamity 
Whenever a calamity and a hardship occurs they 
become sad and disappointed, and hopeless of the 
Bounty and Mercy of the Glorious Lord." (a.b.a.) 

Must not our aim in life be spiritual rather than 
"material?" Of a truth it is a spiritual existence 
beyond the grave. We can conceive of no other. 
Is it not the best we can do to follow Christ's in- 
structions as to "the only way" to attain unto the 
Kingdom? Is it not the highest of folly to fritter 
away a life in devotion to merely the material, 
matters of adornment, outward show, service of 
king mammon ? Everything we can conceive of, 
everything in existence irrefutably points to the 



WHY? 17 



immense fact of our being created for something 
other and beyond the preparatory conditions and 
requirements of this world of materiality, this 
world of constant change and reversion. Blind 
and ignorant indeed we must be if we fail to real- 
ize in certainty that in all domains there is, ever 
has been, and ever will be, something more and 
greater than the mere preparation ! The state of 
preparation presupposes that for which the prepar- 
ation was made. The ground is prepared for the 
seed, which is planted and allowed to decay and 
give up its life in order to bring forth more boun- 
tifully. Then we have to patiently wait its growth 
and care for it until — what? until the object of 
all those processes and vigils is reached in the ma- 
turity of growth, development and production of 
the new creation or result following the prepara- 
tion . 

It is the same with the human being. There 
never was anything more absurd than to hold that 
man was put here, without his intervention or even 
knowledge, for merely this world existence, which 
is beset with trials, troubles, obstacles and difficul- 
ties every moment, from birth curtain call till the 
shroud of final exit, never again to return ! 

O God ! grant this prayer : Remove our sordid- 
ness and enable us to behold the glorious purpose 
of our being on earth — that it is to glorify, attain 
unto and be ever radiantly happy in and with 
Thee ! 



WHITHER ? 



CHAPTER IV 




F we are perverse enough to wish to do 
so, we cannot question the fact, obvious 
and clear as it is, that God is Spirit and 
Eternal Love and Truth ; that man 
being created in the Image and Likeness of God 
means, as already stated, that when man, being 
obedient to the commands of God, is finished in 
creation, that is growth, he will be spiritually de- 
veloped and unfolded and like unto God in sub- 
stance and quality — not outline and form. 

In considering the "Why" of man we have seen 
that there would be no sense, logic or law in his 
being put into this cold world of matter, where all 
is subject to the constant law of change and rever- 
sion, as a finality, but that unmistakably here is 
his training, schooling and preparation for his real 
existence, life, action and happiness in the great 
and incomparable beyond! 

It is quite unnecessary to either deny or discuss 
here the magnificent fact of perfect and superb law 
and order governing and controlling the vast Uni- 
verse and all within its nameless boundaries. So 
far as this planet is concerned it is self-evident 
that man is the highest result and exponent of 
created forms. 



WHITHER? 19 



It is far from uncommon that human beings 
manifest, more or less unexplainably, the positive 
fact of conviction, of a certainty of belief tanta- 
mount to settled knowledge, in the life beyond 
the grave. But let us behold how simple it is to 
prove and demonstrate the immortality of the 
human soul. 

The fact is alleged to be scientifically estab- 
lished that there is no such thing as loss in the 
world or universe ; that is to say, we may burn 
the tree, eat the vegetables and meat ; disolve the 
gold into a Iquid, nay, even a gaseous substance, 
and make the rock invisible, intangible in the or- 
dinary sense, and yet there is no such thing as 
loss in the slightest degree to any of those sub- 
stances ! 

Now it is a self-evident proposition that mind, 
soul, spirit, life of man is far greater and superior 
to the mineral and vegetable elements entering in- 
to the formation of his physical body. 

Therefore these two predicates, they being un- 
deniably true, obviously present at once the fact 
of immortality ! Simple ? Who can gainsay it ? 
The life beyond must be continued existence with- 
out impairment, for the ending or impairment in 
the slightest degree of individuality, identity, per- 
sonality , would be a loss, and loss in no wise enters 
into the great and eternal plan 1 

Jesus Christ declared : *'In my Father's House 
are many Mansions." Asked to explain this re- 



20 WHENCE? VHY? WHITHER? 

markable statement, the most enlightened, pure 
and lofty soul in the whole world said: "The 
Father's House is the vast Universe ; the many 
mansions are the infinite number of inhabited 
planets !" (a. b. a.) 

All reasonable and enlightened beings must per- 
ceive and admit that the "whither" of the human 
soul, the real life, is the continuous spiritual ex- 
istence beyond the grave, beyond that which we 
usually and wrongly call death. In reality going 
through that change called death is a new, real 
and higher birth ! 

Jesus Christ said : "Blessed are the meek for 
they shall inherit the earth." (Matt. 5 :5.) Have 
in mind the New Heaven and the New Earth 
(Kev. 21.) Christ promised for the time of es- 
tablishment by the Lord of the Vineyard of His 
Kingdom on earth, at the Day of Resurection, 
Judgment, Millennium, Peace on earth, when 
spiritual or heavenly conditions would supersede 
the ruling and governing of the world by the lower 
nature of man. "Of His Kingdom there shall be 
no end." (Lu. 1 :33.) "The righteous shall inherit 
the land and dwell therein forever." (Psa. 37 :29) . 
This clearly refers to heavenly conditions, rather 
than the literal earth, locally and immediately con- 
sidered. "Blessed are the pure in heart : for they 
shall see God." (Matt. 5:8.) When Christ was 
on the cross of crucifixion He declared to the re- 
pentant malefactor on another cross : "Verily I say 



WHITHER? 21 



unto thee, today shalt thou be with Me in para- 
dise." What better testimony regarding immor- 
tality is required? 

In summing up then, it is indisputable fact that 
God is Spirit, Truth, Love, perfect and eternally 
existent ; that man came out from God in Whose 
Image and Likeness he is ordained ; that man, ac- 
cording to all reason and judgment, according to 
all Divine Revelation and Promise and the whole 
nature of things, was intended to know and be at 
one with God ! Just as truly as the human infant 
needs instruction from infancy to maturity, so is 
it true that the race of mankind requires and was 
intended for education and growth and develop- 
ment upward to that essential height so as to be 
able to see, in spirit and in truth, and Tcnow our 
real and true Father, God ! Just as truly as the 
human infant was intended to know and have in- 
ter-communication with its earthly parents, so is 
it likewise undeniably true that the great and en- 
tire human family was intended to enjoy knowl- 
edge of and inter-communication and oneness with 
God ! Of at least equal truth and certainty it must 
be declared that until this knoweldge, oneness 
and inter-communication becomes a realization, 
the creation of mankind remains still in process ! 

"There are three births of man ; first, the mate- 
rial (or physical ;) second, to be born of water, 
and third, to be born of the Spirit. ... To be 
born of the Spirit is to give np material desires. 



22 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? ^ 

and to take on all the qualities of God, and thus 
he begins to ascend the other side of the circle. 
The spiritual half has an indefinite number of con- 
ditions, but always progressing upwards. 

"Athough the embryo is alive in the womb of 
the mother, yet it is considered as dead, and when 
it is born from the mother's womb, it receives a 
new life and a great Spirit. So the same result oc- 
curs in the second birth which is a spiritual one. 
When it is produced for a person, that person will 
possess another life, receive another energy, ob- 
tain another power and gain another might/'(A.B. a.) 

From this consideration of the subject, though 
hurried, brief, limited in scope and completeness 
of treatment, it is submitted that the honest, sin- 
cere and thoughtful are bound to, and, it is pre- 
sumed, gladly will agree with the writer that the 
"whither," the great future of the human spiritual- 
ized soul, is destined for that great forever beyond 
the grave I 

We cannot deny, and it would be a great pity 
should we wish to deny, that the "Whither" of 
the human soul is a consciously spiritual existence 
in perfect brotherhood love and truth with the 
Supreme Lord of the Boundless Universe, the 
Glorious and Only True Father ! 

To briefly recapitulate : From whence is man ? 
He came out from his Source, the Infinite and 
Eternal Creator of all, the Lord of Lords, the 
King of Kings, the Father of Heaven and earth 



WHITHER? 23 



and all therein, the Sustainer of the entire Uni- 
verse ! 

What is the purpose of man ? Why is he on 
earth ? Man as the Microcosm, or little world in 
himself, is a minature or sign and form of the vast 
Macrocosm, or universe of worlds I As man has to 
be educated from his infancy at birth to his matur- 
ity ; as the infant man, the individual, was destined 
from the beginning to ultimately know and exer- 
cise the power of inter-communication with his 
earthly parents ; likewise, by parity of reasoning, 
it is perfectly obvious that the entire human fam- 
ily was designed to be, and has ever been in the 
process of being, educated from its racial infancy 
to maturity, and was just as surely intended to 
arrive at the stage of development, unfoldment, 
creation, admitting of inter-communication with 
God, the Father of the race, as was the individual 
human infant designed to be educated to maturity 
and was designed to know and communicate with 
his earthly parents! 

Surely the entire race of mankind was intended 
to become like unto God, the Father, in Love, 
Spirit and Truth ! This is the real meaning of the 
creation of man in the Image and Likeness of God 
— not in outline and form. Man was made to love, 
worship and serve and be loved by God ! 

The Whither of man ? Man is and was destined 
from the beginning, and there is no tangible or 
sensible argument to the contrary, to go on and on 



24 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

forever in the higher, the sublime spiritual realms, 
with God and all that is Glorious ! Of a truth 
mankind the creature was intended to know and 
be with its Parent ! But was there not something 
for mankind to do ? What if mankind should for- 
feit the right to such incomparable attainment and 
enjoyment? Note the following remarkable words : 

"Know for a certainty that except in the ser- 
vitude of Baha (Glory) , there is no glory for man, 
and save in evanescence and utter nothingness 
there is no immortality ! ! ! Until man lose him- 
self in God he will not live through Him! "(a.b.a.) 

A human child may, it does sometimes, forfeit 
or make impossible the enjoyment desired and 
willed by his parents for him. The race of man- 
kind, man individually and collectively, is not only 
endowed with the inestimable rights, privileges 
and blessings, as stated, but is charged with cer- 
tain duties and responsibilities. He is given the 
choice of good and evil. He must choose the good 
path, and not the converse. He must work out 
his salvation? He should not be misled by a dead 
ecclesiasticism, by any false teachings regarding 
an unwarranted and impossible doctrine of blood 
atonement! 

It behooves us to wake up and realize that this 
world is the training ship and camp for the navy 
and army of the Lord ; the school of true learning, 
aye, knowledge, in the Spirit; the target ground 
of severe trial and test ; the field of conflict for 



WHITHER? 25 



overcoming self and the world ; the battle field of 
the human natures, — the strenuous contention be- 
tween the Abel, or higher, spiritual nature, and 
the Cain, or lower, passionate, beastly nature, 
each forever striving for the mastery. It is only 
by the higher nature overcoming the lower, that 
we can become successful candidates for the real 
beyond! We must strive with vigilance for the 
supremacy of our higher nature! This is our birth- 
right ; it was always intended for us. The es- 
sence of all power for that high attainment is and 
ever has been within us! 



RELIGION 



PART II CHAPTER I 




HE dictionaries give various definitions 
of Religion. 

The noted Hebrew scholar, Gesen- 
ius, is authority for the statement that 
the Hebrew root of the word Religion signifies :"To 
bind back to the truth," and this root significance 
is also held to portray "piety, religious, and gath- 
ering together," etc. 

In a word and correctly, Religion is Pure Truth 
of and from God, the Creator, the Real Father, 
revealed by Him in the different ages or Prophetic 
or Religious Dispensations, through His Prophets 
and Messengers, for the instruction and guidance 
of the world of humanity. 

Religion is also knowledge of God. Absolutely 
all Truth and pure Knowledge is of and from God. 
Indeed, there is not and never has been in the 
world an honest thought, a true idea, a conscious 
fact of truth but which, at some time, emanated 
from God, the Supreme Lord of all ! 

Although Religion, that is Truth, has been and 
is revealed mostly through the duly appointed 
Teachers (prophets and messengers) from God, 
the exalted and unknown Principal of the world 
school, for the education and enlightenment of His 



RELIGION 27 



scholars — the race of mankind — wholly inclusive 
and without restriction or limitation, yet Religion, 
or Truth, or Knowledge is also revealed in and 
through every human being who is spiritually re- 
ceptive to God and His incomparable Truth ; who 
is, in other words, as written by Trine, "In Tune 
with the Infinite." 

Lactantius, centuries ago, defined Religion to 
be a "Tie of Love between man and God." 

Religion is of the heart and not of the head. 
None save the pure and sincere can possibly appre- 
hend the reality of Religion. Christ declared: 
"Only the pure in heart shall see God." It is ob- 
vious that such only can know the Truth of God! 

Ernest Renan has well said that every religious 
system can be summarized in this brief sentence : 
"Love the good God and be good." 

As a matter of fact, and finally, we must know 
that in reality there is but one Religion in the 
world, nay, more, that there never was but One 
Religion ! At first thought this may seem to be a 
wrong statement. We will see, however, by think- 
ing a little, and by remembering that there is One 
God only, and that Religion is His Truth, that 
more than one Religion — one Truth of God — 
would be impossible! 

We of the ages may have been misled by the 
fact that Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses, each 
in turn, gave less of spiritual teachings from God 
to the world, than came through Jesus Christ. 



28 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

But the explanation is simplicity itself. In the 
time of the earlier prophets mankind was less ready 
in development and preparation to receive than 
during the later ages or dispensations, but we 
must admit that it was the same Truth, identically, 
manifested in and through every one of the great 
prophets and messengers! 

Even in the improved time of Christ, as com- 
pared with former periods, He declared the world 
was ready for only a part of the Truth He brought : 
"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye 
cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the 
Spirit of Truth, is come. He will guide you into 
all Truth.'' (John 16: 12-13.) 

Here is a practical definition and application of 
Religion : 'Ture religion and undefiled before 
God and the Father is this ; to visit the fatherless 
and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself 
unspotted from the world." (James 1 : 27.) 

The Reverend Doctor , head of one of 

New York's leading churches, has declared that 
"Christianity is the only God-made Religion ; all 
others are man-made !" Such a statement is a most 
serious mistake and discloses the deplorable fact 
that its author was lamentably unacquainted with 
the nature and character of Religion, in not know- 
ing that, while there are man-made theologies 
there is no such thing as a "man-made religion." 
And, were he familiar with the Life, Works and 
Teachings of Jesus Christ, whose minister he pro- 



RELIGION 29 



f esses to be, he would recal the fact, plainly shown 
in the Bible, that Christ ratified and confirmed all 
Revelation from God through Abraham, Moses, 
David, Daniel, Isaiah and others, indeed all Rev- 
elation prior to His own time! Verily that min- 
ister should know that all Revealed Truth of and 
from God is in fact. Religion! 

There have been Seven Great Religious Sys- 
tems of the world, and they are universall}^ re- 
ferred to as different religions. That is entirely 
wrong : they should be called the different Revela- 
tions or manifestations of the One and only 
Great Religion of God, referred to in the fifth 
chapter of Revelation as "The Seven Seals of The 
Book!" 

The ancient religious sj^stems have long since 
become so rent and cut up by dispute and dissen- 
sion ; have been so divided into sects and f ollow- 
ings, it has for a long time been quite difficult to 
trace and correctly define the strict integrity of 
the original seven great religious systems of 
THE WORLD. According to the Persian-Egyptian 
scholar, Mirza Abul Fazl, whom the writer looks 
upon as one of the greatest living and known stu- 
dents of Religion, of God and His infinite, pri- 
mary and fundamental Truth, and from whom he 
has derived more insight as to the realities of the 
Christian Revelation, notwithstanding the fact that 
he himself was brought up a Mohammedan, than 
from any other scholar or author, has defined those 



30 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

seven great religious systems by name as follows : 
Sabeanism or Fettishism, Zoroastrianism, Con- 
fucianism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity and 
Mohammedanism. He insist that careful perusal 
of the original and fundamental teachings of each 
positively proves their derivation from the same 
Divine Source, and that, consequently, each and 
all are in strict accord and harmony. 

As showing the singularly unfortunate miscon- 
ception and contemplation of Religion by the re- 
ligionists of the world in general, let us briefly 
consider the attitude of the Christian world to- 
wards Mohammedanism, which practically parallels 
the indefensibly false attitude of Judaism towards 
Christianity ! The emphatic teaching of the Christ- 
ian Church has been to the effect that Mohammed 
was a false usurper and Mohammedanism a false 
religion, not of God, but of man ! Yet Mohammed 
clearly and fully ratified and confirmed the Teach- 
ings of Jesus Christ and, as the Divine agent, 
messenger and instrument of God, actually saved 
Christianity, then at its lowest ebb, to the world ! 

One of the terrible evils with us is the woeful 
increase of the suicidal mania. It is one of the 
many evidences of the sin-sickness of the world, 
of the spiritual deadness of the world in general, 
and of Christianity in particular, respecting the 
reality'of Religion . Judge Ameer Ali, Syed, M. A . , 
C. I. E., in his book on Islam, says as follows : 

"Th belief that the human soul will have to ren- 



RELIGION 31 



der to its Creator an account of how ithas carried 
out in this life the duties imposed on it has had 
one important result on Moslem society, the sig- 
nificance of which has often escaped the notice of 
non-Moslem writers. It has inspired the Moslem 
with a sense of dignity and feeling of responsibil- 
ity, which have made self-destruction practically 
unknown in Islam. Suicide was as common among 
the pagan Arabs as it is now in Christendom. Ec- 
clesiasticism attempted to prevent self-destruction 
by attaching the most cruel penalties to the of- 
fence. The body of a felo-de-se could not be in- 
terred in consecrated ground : it could only be 
buried surreptitiously in the dark hours of the 
night by the roadside where four cross roads met, 
with a stake through it ; his family was subjected 
to ignomy. None of these forcible rules are need- 
ed in Islam. The belief that Divine help is always 
nigh to relieve the distressed, to help the suffering, 
to assist the forsaken, arrests the hand of the most 
despondent or desperate, the most sick and weary 
with life, from taking his or her own life. Whilst 
the idea of appearing in the presence of the Al- 
mighty Judge before the summons has come acts 
as the strongest deterrent to self-destruction. The 
Moslem will fight even unto death, but will never 
take his own life, which he regards as a trust from 
God. Never backward or hesitant in the perform- 
ance of his duty, he considers it an act of coward- 
ice to fly from personal danger or present unhap- 
piness by putting an end to his existence." 



32 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

As in the time of Christ the members of the 
church system professed to be believers in God 
and followers of Moses, and Christ rebuked them, 
declaring they did not so believe, for if they did, 
they would believe in Him, as Moses wrote of Him, 
so now the "Christians" are equally false in their 
professions, for if they truly believed in God and 
His Christ, they would surely believe as well in 
His Prophet and Messenger Mohammed. Let us 
peruse a few utterances of Mohammed. About 
the ninth year, A. H. (after the Hegira, that is, 
the flight to Medina) , Mohammed "granted to the 
Christians" a charter which forms one of the no- 
blest monuments of enlightened tolerance : 

"To the Christians of Najran and the neighbor- 
ing territories the security of God and the pledge 
of His Prophet are extended for their lives, their 
religion, and their property — to the present as 
well as the absent and others besides ; there 
shall be no interference with (the practice of) their 
faith or their observances ; nor any change in 
their rights or privileges ; no bishop shall be re- 
moved from his bishopric ; nor any monk from his 
monastery, nor any priest from his priesthood, 
and they shall continue to enjoy everything great 
and small as heretofore ; no image or cross shall be 
destroyed ; they shall not oppress or be oppressed ; 
they shall not practice the rights of blood ven- 
geance as in the Days of Ignorance (In Moham- 
medan parlance the period of preceding degener- 



RELIGION 33 



acy is thus called) ; no tithes shall be gathered 
from them, nor shall they be required to furnish 
provision for the troops." 

Note these words : 'To the missionaries whom 
he sent to the provinces, Mohammed always gave 
the following admonition. 'Deal gently with the 
people, and be not harsh, cheer them and con- 
temn them not.' And ye will meet with many 
people of the Book (Jews and Christians) who 
will question thee, 'What is the Key to Heaven?' 
Reply to them. The key to Heaven ts to testify 
to the truth of God and do good workT 

On the occasion of his last pilgrimage to the 
Kaaba, in 632, A. D., accompanied by more than 
a hundred thousand followers, Mohammed deliv- 
ered to the vast multitude his famous " Sermon on 
the Mount," a part of which follows : "Ye people ! 
listen to my words, for I know not whether an- 
other year will be vouchsafed to me after this year 
to find myself amongst you. Your lives and prop- 
erty are sacred and inviolable amongst one another 
until ye appear before the Lord, as this day and 
this month is sacred for all ; and remember ye 
shall have to appear before your Lord, who shall 
demand from you an account of all your actions, 
... Ye people ! listen to my words, and under- 
stand the same. Know that all Moslems are broth- 
ers unto one another. Ye are one brotherhood. 
Nothing which belongs to another is lawful unto 
his brother, unless freely given out of good will. 
Guard yourselves from committing injustice." 



34 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

Early in his mission Mohammed advised his fol- 
lowers, who were so furiously persecuted, to seek 
refuge in the kingdom of the Negus. Many whose 
sufferings had become unbearable, did so, but 
Koreishite hostility pursued them, demanding 
their deliverance to be put to death. The memor- 
able reply of their spokesman, the brother of Ali, 
follows : "O king, we were plunged in the depth 
of ignorance and barbarism ; we adored idols, we 
lived in unchastity ; we ate dead bodies and we 
spoke abominations ; we disregarded every feeling 
of humanity and the duties of hospitality and 
neighborhood ; we knew no law but that of the 
strong, when God raised among us a man of whose 
birth, truthfulness, honesty, and purity we were 
aware ; and he called us to the Unity of God, and 
taught us not to associate anything with Him ; he 
forbade us the worship of idols ; and enjoined us 
to speak the truth, to be faithful to our trusts, to 
be merciful and to regard the rights of neighbors ; 
he forbade us to speak evil of women, or to eat 
the substance of orphans ; he ordered us to fly 
from vices and to abstain from evil ; to offer pray- 
ers ; to render alms, to observe the fast. We have 
believed in him ; we accept his teachings and his 
injunctions to worship God and not to associate 
anything with Him. For this reason our people 
have risen against us, have persecuted us in order 
to make us forego the worship of iGod and to re- 
turn to the worship of idols of wood and stone 



RELIGION 35 



and other abominations. They have tortured us 
and injured us ; until finding no safety among 
them we have come to thy country !" 

When the spirit of this great Prophet, Moham- 
med, took its flight to the beyond, the grief and 
exitement was intense. The venerable Abu Bakr, 
afterwards his succesor, uttered these words of 
caution : "Mussulmans, if you adored Mohammed, 
know that Mohammed is dead ; if it is God that 
you adore, know that He liveth. He never dies. 
Forget not this verse of the Koran, 'Mohammed 
is only a man charged with a mission ; before him 
there have been men who received the heavenly 
mission and died ;' nor this verse, Thou too, Mo- 
hammed, shall die as others have died before thee." 
After the election of this venerable patriarch he 
addressed the following allocution to the people : 
"Ye people ! now verily I am charged with the 
cares of government over you, although I am not 
the best amongst you. I need all your advice and 
all your help. If I do well, support me ; if I mis- 
take, counsel me. To tell truth to a person com- 
missioned to rule is faithful allegiance ; to conceal 
it is perfidy. In my sight the powerful and weak 
are alike, and to both I wish to render justice. . . 
Wherefore obey ye me, even as I obey the Lord 
and His apostle : If I neglect the laws of God and 
the Prophet, I have no more right to your obedi- 
ence." 

Soon there was excitement and revolt in some 



36 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

of the provinces. In sending his army to Syria 
to redress a great wrong, Abu Bakr gave his cap- 
tain the following injunction : "See that thou avoid- 
est treachery, injustice and oppression. Depart 
not in any wise from the right. Thou shalt muti- 
late none, neither shalt thou kill child or aged man, 
nor any woman. Destroy no palm-tree, nor burn 
any fields of corn. Cut not down any tree wherin 
is food for man or beast. Slay not the flocks or 
herds or camels, saving for needful sustenance. 
When thou makest a covenant, stand to it, and be 
as good as thy word. Ye may eat of the meat 
which the men of the land shall bring unto you* in 
their vessels, making mention thereon of the name 
of the Lord. As you go on you will find some 
religious persons who live retired in monasteries, 
and propose to themselves to serve God that way : 
let them alone, and neither kill them nor destroy 
their monasteries. And the monks with shaven 
heads, if they submit, leave them unmolested. 
Now march forward in the name of the Lord, and 
may He protect you from sword and pestilence." 

The writer has conversed with many able cler- 
gymen who are free with their denunciations of 
the prophet Mohammed, whom they invariably 
referred to as a base, wicked, false usurper ; and 
with the Mohammedan Religion, which they were 
pleased to denominate a man-made aud false relig- 
ion. And yet I learned from them that they had 
never studied or even read the Koran or the Tra- 



RELIGION 37 



ditions of Mohammed ! What excuse can they 
offer for their notorious temerity in denouncing 
as false a thing of which they confess no knowl- 
edge ? It has been a common fault with the clergy 
to denounce Voltaire and Tom Paine as atheists, 
when in fact, they cannot show that either of these 
great men ever denied God and His Truth ! The 
trouble with these men of the cloth was, it seems, 
this : when they have found men really honest and 
God-respecting and faithful and courageous enough 
to denounce a false and corrupt church, whether 
Christian, Mohammedan, Jewish or Zoroastrian, 
they, not being capable of differentiating between 
God and the reality of Religion, and a degenerate 
and spiritually dead church organization, have 
erred in such matters, as they erred in upholding 
and defending slavery, and invariably have erred 
in opposing or neglecting to lead in the great re- 
form movements of centuries, of ages ! 

Irrespective of the question of the right of any 
church or person to presume to deny and oppose 
any prophet or messenger God chooses to send on 
a world misssion, it is perfectly clear none have a 
right to denounce or deny what they have no 
knowledge of, whatever ! Of course these clergy- 
men know nothing of the famous '*Oath of the 
Prophet Mohammed," which he intrusted to his 
Caliphs, expressing his authoritative Command to 
all his followers to respect and protect the fol- 
lowers of Christ? All of Islam were required 



38 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

to subscribe to that oath. It was issued to the 
Christian monks of St. Catherine at Mt. Sinai. 
The original is still preserved in the treasury of 
the Sultan at Constantinople. It is a remarkable 
document, and it is most strange, either : 

1. That there have been none in the Christian 
church familiar with these matters which so con- 
clusively refute their teachings — far worse and 
more false than can be found in the teachings of 
Judaism, to prejudice its followers against Christ- 
ianity, or else : 

2. That, knowing the truth reflected in the fore- 
going excerpts from Mohammedanism, yet they 
have knowingly, wilfully deceived and misled the 
masses of the Christian church into diabolically 
false beliefs and practices ; have persistently and 
criminally traduced and influenced the people a- 
gainst a great Prophet of God and his magnificent 
work for the people of the entire world without 
distinction or qualification ! Which horn of the 
dilimma will they sit on ? 

Who can find fault with those Mohammedan ut- 
terances ? Who can charge they emanate from a 
false religious system? From false prophets and 
teachers? Contrast those utterances with many 
diabolical commands and judgments of "Christian" 
rulers and soldiers. Compare those portions of 
the true history, as practically agreed upon by 
the greatest of both European and Eastern histo- 
rians, showing, in the main, in their intercourse 



RELIGION 39 



and conflicts, outrageous perfidy on the part of the 
Christians, and manly, humane chivah-y on the 
part of the Mohammedans ! 

One cannot read of the period of the Crusade 
wars without blushing with shame, indignation and 
regret because of the un-Christian conduct of the 
crusaders, marching with the Cross of Christ in 
one hand, and the sword of injustice, tyranny and 
hell in the other ! I blush in sack cloth and ashes 
for my ancestors, when I realize how they suffer 
in comparison with their opponents, those heroes 
of honor and magnanimity ! This was notably il- 
lustrated in "Richard the Lion Hearted" of Eng- 
land, in his violation of parole and pledge and in 
cruelty, as contrasted with the conduct of that 
grand old hero, Saladin, the famous Moham- 
medan king and commander ! 



GOD 



CHAPTER II 




MY GOD, I have turned my face to 
Thee, and pray Thee to illuminate it 
with the Lights of Thy face, and keep 
it from turning to any but Thee !" — 
(Abdul Baha Abbas). 

"O, son of the Soul ! Be blind, and thou shalt 
behold My Beauty ; be deaf and thou shalt hear 
My Sweet Melody and Song ; be ignorant, and 
thou shalt take a portion from My Knowledge ; be 
needy and thou shalt take a never-ending share 
from the everlasting Sea of My Wealth ; blind, 
that is from beholding aught besides My Beauty ; 
deaf, that is, from listening to aught besides 
My Utterance ; ignorant, that is, of all besides My 
Knowledge. So shalt thou enter the Pasture of 
My Sanctity, with pure eyes, unsullied minds and 
sensitive ears." (The Word of God through Baha' 
Ullah.) 

Finite man has thus far been unable to apprehend 
the Infinite God, but is not man intended to know 
God, the Father? The state of parent and child is 
inconceivable without latent power of inter-com- 
munications. Christ declared : "God is a Spirit : 
and they that worship Him must worship Him in 
Spirit and in Truth." (John 4 : 24.) The Bible says 



GOD 41 

that man is created in the Image and Likeness of 
God ; hence, man, when finished in creation or 
growth and development, must be spiritual — like 
unto God, Who is Spirit. 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
was with God, and the Word was God." (St. John 
1:1.) 

Christ declared : "The first of all the Command- 
ments is. Hear, O Israel ; the Lord our God is 
One Lord." (Mark 12 : 29.) And : "Why callest 
thou Me Good? there is none good but One, that 
is, God" (Matt. 19: 17). 

Let us seek, in Spirit and in Truth, to know 
and be with God. "If God be for us, who can be 
against us?" (Rom. 8 : 31). 

The human mind is incapable, at present, of 
grasping, even approximately, the overpow- 
ering vastness of God, of Eternity, of abstract 
perfection ! We know, however, that God is 
self-existent, as is the principle of mathematics — 
without beginning and without ending ! 

God is Spirit, Love, absolute perfection, the 
Cause and Sustainer of all that is. He is the 
Principal of the great world School, and His creat- 
ures, the human beings, are His scholars. He sends 
Teachers from time to time to educate His schol- 
ars. These are known as prophets and messengers. 

"The Hebrew word Elohim is used as the Name 
of the Creator throughout the first chapter of 
Genesis. The primitive significations of the root 



42 WHENCE? VHY ? WHITHER? 

from which it is derived, as given by Gesenius and 
other Hebrew scholars, can be condensed and ar- 
ranged in order as follows : A power going forth, 
entering into, becoming as nothing, setting up 
motion, causing to revolve, ruling, guiding, di- 
recting: finally bringing about relations of beauty, 
strength, harmony, majesty and perfection. This 
in brief is the etymological sense of that Name of 
the Deity which is used in the account of the Cre- 
ation of the Material Universe. 

"Jehovah is the second Name of God. The He- 
brew root of this word conveys the idea of exist- 
ence, being, life. That which is by reason of its 
own virtue Self-existent, Changeless, Eternal. He 
who was, is, and ever shall be. 

"God Almighty, or Almighty, the third Name 
of th Creator ; Hebrew, El Shaddai, signifies pri- 
marily to shed or pour forth energy, or that which 
nourishes and sustains life." (Wait.) 

On the subject of the Names of God we will 
quote from the American Ency. Diet, as follows : 

"Two leading Names for the Supreme Being 
continually occur in the Hebrew Bible ; the one 
general, the other specific. The geneml term is 
El or Eloah, both singular, the Elohim plural. 
The specific one is Yehovah, in general written 
Jehovah (q.v.) It is of the first that God is the 
appropriate rendering. El Eloah, and Elohim 
signify Deity in general. Elohim is much more 
common than the singular forms. An anomalous 



GOD 43 

grammatical idiom is generally introduced where 
it occurs. While it has the plural form, it being 
the plural of Hebrew masculine nouns, the verb, 
of which it is nominative, is uniformly singular. 
Older writers found in this a reference to the 
Trinity in Unity ; grammarians term it the plural 
of excellence, and some have supposed that the 
plural noun carries us back to the infancy of the 
Hebrew language when polytheism prevailed, and 
that the singular verb established itself w^hen 
monotheism displaced the worship of many gods. 
Among the epithets of titles used of God in the 
Old Testament are Most High (Gen. 14 : 18, etc.) , 
Mighty (Neh. 9 :32), Holy (Josh. 24 : 19), Mer- 
ciful (Deut. 4 :31), God of Heaven (Ezra 5 : 12), 
God of Israel, etc., (Ex. 24 :10). Anthropomor- 
phic language occurs chiefly, though not exclu- 
sively, in the poetic parts of the Old Testament 
(2 Chron. 16 : 9, Psa. 34 :15, Deut. 8:3, Psa. 29 : 
4, Isa. 40 : 12, 53 : 1, Ex. 32 :23) , but monotheism 
is enjoined in the first commandment, and idolatry 
forbidden in the second, while in Isaiah and else- 
w^here there are most scathing denunciations of the 
manufacture and worship of images (Isa. 40 : 12-26 
42 : 17, 44 : 9 : 20, etc.). In the New Testament, 
St. John gives the ever memorable definition of 
the Divine Nature, "God is Love." (1 John 4 : 16). 
The Latin Church, the Greek Church, and the sev- 
eral Protestant denominations, all essentially agree 
in their tenets regarding God. See the Apostles', 



44 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, the first of the 
Thirty-nine Articles, the Catechism of the Council 
of Trent, the Confession of Faith (chapter 2) and 
the Shorter Catechism, question 4." 

In the Bible we are promised a New Name of 
God at this time, according to the dates given in 
that great work. The Name is Baha' UUah (mean- 
ing in English The Glory of God) . The period re- 
ferred to, the present, is the Seventh great world 
Day or Cycle, the Day of Most Great Peace, the 
Millennium which our grandmothers were pray- 
ing for. 

Most people would resent, and quite naturally, 
being told that the present Visitation of Divine 
Manifestation is far greater and more important 
than hitherto witnessed by the world, yet it is 
strictly that which Christ foretold and which 
His entire mission predicated. 

It would be equally resented by the world — the 
church world — being informed that the present is 
an idol-worshipping age, and, further, that no for- 
mer age has displayed more idolatry. Such is the 
deplorable, the sad fact. The chief difference be- 
tween then and now, respecting idolatry, lies in 
the form of the idol. The present-day idol is the 
mammon dollar, rather than the golden calf and 
graven images, though there is far more of mere 
image worship today in the Christian world than 
is realized. Century after century we have be- 
come so engrossed with the pursuit of the mater- 



GOD 45 

ial, that is, mere worldly wealth, pleasures and 
really degrading intellectual accomplishments (?), 
that we have gradually, almost imperceptibly, 
drifted away from the higher pathway — from God 
and His satisfying Truth, into the lower, the 
degrading, the culpable roadway and service of 
mammon — the antithesis of the Spirit of Truth, 
that is to say, God ! 

If we will but mend our ways ; if we will obey 
the teachings and commands of Christ and all the 
great prophets, we will be able to rejoice in 
the knowledge of God, and to know that He is 
Spirit, Truth and Love ! 



THE WORD 



CHAPTER III 




N the first chapter of John we read : "In 
the beginning was the Word, and the 
Word was with God, and the Word was 

God," and that "The Word was made 

flesh and dwelt among men." From this it has 
been contended that Jesus was God, but this is 
gross error. In the same chapter it is recorded : 
"No man hath seen God at any time ; the only be- 
gotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, 
He hath declared Him." This is suflicient proof, 
taken with such of the utterances of Jesus Christ 
as these : "It is not Me, but the Father that dwell- 
eth in Me, Who doeth the Works ;" "My Father 
is greater than I," et cetera, that it is and ever has 
been the Word, that is to say, the revealed Spirit 
and Truth of God, which has, in all ages or pro- 
phetic cycles, been vested in or manifested through 
the various prophets, teachers or messengers ac- 
credited by Divine Authority, during the periodic 
and succeeding great educational world Days or 
Dispensations. This is plain enough. If we are 
of the Truth we cannot mistake the true meaning. 
The Word was manifested to mankind through 
Adam far less than through Christ. Indeed the 
"Christ" was in reality the Word manifested in 



THE WORD 47 



the flesh, the human body known as the individual 
Jesus of Nazareth. 

In every dispensation the Word is manifested 
in a different leading prophet-educator. Contem- 
plating the great epoch-marking prophets or mes- 
sengers of God from Adam down to the present 
time, it is clearly perceivable that a larger portion 
of the Word —the Truth of God — was imparted 
to the world with each successive age, but we must 
remember that the Word is just as fixed, unchange- 
able and eternal as is God Himself ! The princi- 
ple of mathematics is fixed, unchangeable, deter- 
minate, but lessons of its teachings vary greatly 
in fulness and importance in the numerous 
school grades from the kindergarten to the uni- 
versity ! 

While it is always the same identical Word or 
Spirit of Truth, each revelation-prophet has a 
different and distinct station or designation. The 
station of Abraham, the father of Judaism, Christ- 
ianity and Mohammedanism, was "The Father 
of the Faithful," "The Friend of God," etc. ; 
Moses "The Law Giver," "The Interlocutor of 
God," etc. ; Jesus Christ "The Anointed of God," 
"The Son of God," "The Son of Man" etc. ; Mo- 
hammed "The Apostle of God," "The Seal of the 
Prophets," etc. 

As to Jesus Christ, we must know how to dif- 
ferentiate between Jesus the man, and Christ the 
Divine Word manifested from God, reflected in 



48 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

the man Jesus. Herein is found that which is 
most satisfying as to the question of immaculate 
conception, for that is readily acceptable when re- 
ferred to the Word or Spirit, the Christ, but is 
not so readily applicable to the physical body of 
the man Jesus. We do not believe the conception 
of the body of Jesus was contrary to law, for per- 
fect God Who presides over Perfect Law, does 
not and cannot violate law. However, there is 
always this to be said : doubtless there are myriads 
of laws we are as yet unacquainted with. After 
all, it is of no consequence whatever as to whether 
or not the inception of the physical body of Jesus 
was the result of the laws of wed-lock. The Spirit 
is the important question. These words of the 
apostles as to the distinction between Jesus and 
Christ are important : 

<'Ye men of Israel, hear these words ; Jesus of 
Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by 
miracles, and wonders and signs, which God did 
by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also 
know ; " 

'* Therefore let all the house of Israel know as- 
suredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, 
whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." 
(Acts 2 : 22-36.) 

Moses and Christ and all the great prophets and 
messengers of God must be regarded as mere 
lamps through the medium of which the Glorious 
Light of the Truth of God is made to radiate 



THE WORD 49 



to mankind. This is the Light of God's Truth, 
THE Word to which that grand character, John 
the beloved, referred. Do we cherish the lamps 
so very much? The lamps are all right and need- 
ful in their proper place, and therein may be, nay, 
should be honored, but it is the Light shining 
through those lamps which really benefits us and is 
of far the greatest importance. It is readily per- 
ceived that the Jews have erred grievously in wor- 
shipping the Moses lamp, and such error is equally 
true and deplorable on the part of the Christians 
in their foolishness of worshipping the Jesus 
lamp ! They and all the messengers of God have 
urged the world of mankind to obey, love, serve 
and worship only God in Oneness and Singleness ! 
We do wrong not alone by worshipping the person- 
alities of the individual prophets and messengers ; 
we do a far greater wrong by attempting to deify 
and worship lesser beings as '^saints!" In hold- 
ing to such things we are proclaiming ourselves 
pagans or polytheists, that is to say, idolators. 



THE BIBLE 



CHAPTER IV 




UR Bible comprises matters o± inesti- 
mable value concerning history, biog- 
raphy, description, geology, geography, 
social, moral and civil law, prophecy 
and revelation of Divine or Religious Truth. It 
is of the latter — prophecy and revelation — the 
world is chiefly concerned, and it is this which 
engages our especial attention. 

The Bible, indeed all sacred Books or Bibles of 
the world, as a whole, considered from the highest 
standpoint and in the light of the rays of true 
spiritual interpretation, point to this very period 
of time. Now in reality is the fulness of time in 
the actual realization of all that has gone before — 
all predicating this Day of Days ! Now is the time 
of witnessing the real and finished, nay, rather, 
the beginning of the finished creation of man in 
the Image and Likeness (truly spiritual) of God ! 
We must begin to perceive the grand culmina- 
tion of fulfilment of the extraordinary, sublime 
prophecy and preparatory work of Jesus Christ 
and all of the other great prophets, as Heavenly 
Teachers, educating, developing, perfecting man- 
kind for the inevitable, invincible. Kingdom of 
God ^'on earth as it is in Heaven!" ''I must 



THE BIBLE 51 



preach the Kingdom of God !" declared Jesus 
Christ (Lu. 4 : 43). This magnificent, this Divine 
Manifestation of the Sonship Station of God 
taught the world in His famous Lord's Prayer 
to pray for the coming of the Kingdom. In all 
His great teachings, whether in plain and simple 
utterances, or if veiled in the language of parable, 
allegory, "miracle" or symbology, Jesus Christ 
pointed directljs as will be fully apparent to all 
in due time, to this exact period of such marvel- 
ous fulfilment, completion. This is all derived 
from the Bible itself, the greatest and most accu- 
rate and practical Book ever given to the world 
in past ages. 

Notwithstanding the various arguments to the 
contrary, it is irrefutable fact that all Knowledge 
of and from God is real, is tangible, and of the 
very highest importance. Such has been showered 
upon the world in all ages, through prophets and 
messengers, and such is Revealed Truth of God, 
that is to say, real religion! Between this and 
the so-called education of the world, there must 
needs be a vast gulf of difference. Far less value 
and importance attaches to the history, geography, 
traditions and imaginations and they exist in the 
Bible, than to the incomparable prophecy, but 
even those portions have had and will have great 
value. 

Nearly all of the numerous branches of the 
Christian church have believed and do hold that 



52 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

from beginning to the end the Bible is inspired 
revelation direct from God, and every word there- 
of. They have felt and of course it was neces- 
sary to so show, that from Genesis to Revelation 
the Bible is free, wholly so, from disharmony and 
contradiction ; that it was and is indeed in every 
statement in perfect accord with fact, science, 
truth. As a matter of fact such is the case when 
we consider the prophecies and revelations from 
God, as distinguished from matters interpolated 
by people necessarily coloring their records more 
or less b}^ their material and unspiritual develop- 
ment or condition. And right here is seen the 
wonderful wisdom of God in providing against 
certain abuses and impairments of revealed teach- 
ings by causing such to be conveyed and concealed 
for the time in symbols. But the church makes 
its contention for accord and harmony throughout 
the Bible while interpreting the symbols literally, 
instead of spiritually as obviously intended. And 
that is their fatal error. There is no such thing 
as harmony in the scriptures interpreted as the 
church insists, literally, outwardly, superficially. 
But the accord and harmony is perfect throughout 
when interpreted and construed as intended from 
the beginning, and as taught by Christ and His 
Apostles — spiritually ! We may always remember 
that God is Perfect and could in no wise make 
any mistake. This remark is particularly referred 
to theologians and clergymen in general who ar- 



THE BIBLE 53 



rive at so many conclusions inseparably associated 
with the proposition that God has made and can 
make mistakes ! These gentlemen may be so de- 
voted to outward form and a mere profession of 
intellectual hair-splitting narrowness as to be to- 
tally unaware of the deplorable fact that they are 
considering and living by something entirely dif- 
ferent and divorced from the Bible and from the 
reality of Religion ! They have either failed to 
notice or have determinedly ignored and disobeyed 
certain very plain and important Notifications and 
Commands from God in the Bible, as hereinafter 
mentioned, so, we will say, ignorantly rather than 
from want of good intentions, they have gone to 
great lengths in twisting and distorting things in 
vain attempts to make the Bible a logical and har- 
monious whole. In their wrong and disobedient 
action — unconsciously, we will assume — they have 
striven, and most strenuously, to construct and 
present, fruitlessly of course, reasonable interpre- 
tations of such Bible accounts as the following : 

1. The Genesis account of Creation, which the 
spiritually blind could scarcely be expected to 
know was prophecy of future creation^ or growth 
and development during cycles or ages to come^ 
rather than history of the past! 

2. Adam and Eve and the Garden of Paradise. 
The Bible itself shows that these were spiritual 
lessons in symbolic utterance ; that Adam was a 
Prophet of God, etc., etc. 



54 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

3. Noah and the deluge has also been construed 
literally, painfully so, but with many most ingen- 
ious attempts, schemes and struggles to make 
plausible explanations and proofs, in accordance 
with foolish misconceptions and beliefs, regarding 
a literal ship- Ark, etc., which never existed save 
in the imagination of man. As a now known fact 
that famous Noachian incident was a grand spirit- 
ual teaching and prophecy in sublime symbol, and 
is indissolubly associated with Religion per se ! 

4. Jonah and the whale is another Biblical lesson 
of great moment and spirituality, but woefully mis- 
understood. In a word, it is practically as reason- 
able to say that Jonah swallowed the whale as to 
make the converse statement. (Vide chapter on 
Jonah, etc.) 

It is similarly true regarding the accounts of 
Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh ; (see "Symbolic 
Words" — "Miracles.") the parting of the Red Sea ; 
Elijah and the Chariot ; the Immaculate Concep- 
tion ; the Atonement; Baptism; Resurrection, 
etc., etc. 

It is perfectly certain and cannot be emphasized 
too much, that all of the most important portions 
of the Bible, notably prophecy, is direct Revela- 
tion from God ; that nearly all of that incompar- 
ably important prophecy is veiled to man, that is, 
unperceivable by the spiritually unborn and un- 
developed, being contained within allegory, sym- 
bol and parable, and that therein when adequately 



THE BIBLE 55 



considered it is impossible to find the slightest 
want of accord, harmony and truth! 

It is quite astonishing that so many centuries 
could elapse and no great and shining light of the 
ohurch discover the clear and unequivocal notifica- 
tion in the Bible itself, as already stated, that we 
were not to be able to, nor could we possibly in- 
terpret the mysteries lurking within the inner 
symbol significances, but that they would all be 
explained in a certain manner and at a certain time ! 
And that in the meantime we were therein com- 
manded to live by such rules and principles as are 
included in the Sermon on the Mount ! What 
church or representative thereof holds to these in- 
disputable Teachings and Commands of God ? Do 
not they instead preach such deceiving doctrines 
as "Blood Atonement?'' Verily, there is harmony 
in the Bible, perfect harmony, when considered 
spiritually — not literally. "The letter killeth, but 
the Spirit giveth life !" (2 Cor. 3:6.) 

Perhaps the most important Books of the Bible 
may be called the Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ez- 
ekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, Malachi, and the Gospels 
and Revelations of Christ. 

There is much of spiritual, prophetical and edu- 
cational value, however, in the Mosaic and other 
Books. As already mentioned the Genesis account 
of creation is of marvelous interest and scientific 
value, notwithstanding its having been regarded, 
for so many long ages, and by so large a portion 



56 WHENCE? VHY ? WHITHER? 

of the world's people, as being wholly inconsistent 
with the harmony of truth and practical fact. It 
all depends on correct reading, on adequate inter- 
pretation of symbols employed for great and 
everlasting purposes. 

The Books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth and 1 Sam- 
uel to Esther contain that which is chiefly histori- 
cal, and whether or not inspired of God they are 
important. The Book of Job is largely about him- 
self, his boils and other affictions, and his great 
patience and faith and steadfastness, but this re- 
markable Book is not without its very important 
lessons of not only living conduct, but of scientfic 
and spiritual value. It contains much of astro- 
nomical fact, and declares the earth a sphere when 
the so-called scientific world would have it a plane ! 
It also foretold, virtually, wireless telegraphy ! 

From the Psalms to the end of the Old Testa- 
ment we find, and almost exclusively, prophecy con- 
cerning the coming of the Kingdom of God on 
earth, picturing irrefutably and with undying col- 
ors, the Glad-Tidings promised by God, already 
manifest in the shining of a Glorious Radiance 
such as never before witnessed ! 

More than twenty-five years ago the writer used 
to declare that the Bible had never been read ! He 
spoke truly. No book is read unless understand- 
ingly read. He had become a disbeliever in the 
church to which he belonged, and the Bible, from 
witnessing the foolish, inconsistent claims and be- 



THE BIBLE 57 



lief s professed on the part of the clergy and theo- 
logians. Looking backward now it seems strange 
indeed that so many able professional religious 
men should have persisted in efforts at the impos- 
sible reconciliation of certain great Biblical teach- 
ings, interpreted literally, superficially, when a 
very moderate investigation shows, yea, conclu- 
sively proves, that very many of the prophetic 
words were clearly intended, as shown on their 
face, to be interpreted spiritually and in accord- 
ance with deep significances. (See chapter on 
Symbols) . It may be news to many, but it is an 
actual fact, that the true spiritual or inner meaning 
of most or very many of these symbolic words is 
clearly indicated — plainly proven in the Bible it- 
self. Had the world obeyed the Divine instruction 
through Christ it would have become spiritual 
more rapidly and able to grasp the truth. As it 
was with the Jews, it is now a sad case of history 
repeating itself, for our modern religious teachers 
have likewise preferred to be disobedient to Heav- 
enly Commands. 

Not long after the time the writer awoke to the 
fact that the Bible had never been read, he arrived 
at the conclusion that the Truth was in the Bible 
and could be apprehended when we should know 
how to read it! Furthermore it became evident 
that when we should become sufficiently educated 
and developed, and understood the symbolism, 
then the apparent want of harmony in the Bible 



58 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

would disappear. But we are informed by God 
through his prophet Daniel that we could not know 
the real and complete truth until the coming of 
He Who Was Worthy to unloose the seven seals 
of the Book (Religion of God) , that is to say, ex- 
plain all the great mysteries ! (Rev. 4th and 5th 
chapters.) That Great One was to be the Lord of 
the Vineyard — the Glory of God Manifesta- 
tion ! 

When the Bible is rightly, adequately inter- 
preted, construed and understood, it is verily a 
vast, an inexhaustible mine and storehouse, full to 
overflowing of the grandest, the most magnijflcent 
Truth and beauty ! The Bible, we say. But there 
are many Bibles. We of the Occident have been 
brought up to believe that we alone, practically 
speaking, are the children of God ! What false 
notions ; what terrible wickedness ; what outrage- 
ous conceit ! All the Bibles are of God ! All the 
people of the whole world are the children of God ! 
The writer was brought up in the belief that we 
must abhor Mohammed as a false prophet, Voltaire 
and Tom Paine as atheists, we repeat ; the Roman 
Catholics and their Bible, and to do many things 
counter to God's true plan for all the races of man- 
kind to be brought into relations of love and one- 
ness as in fact one family, for all have the one and 
same Father. The Douay Vulgate (Roman Cath- 
olic) Bible, the text, is by far the best Bible we 
have in the English language. Voltaire and Paine 
believed in God, but not in a false church. 



THE BIBLE 59 



Let us strive to see how foolishly wicked we 
poor mortals have been ; let us mend our ways, 
and love, obey and ever serve God. Which are 
we to stand for Christ and God's Truth, or the 
false and dead church, sailing without right under 
the banner of Christ? 

The British and Foreign Bible Society published 
the following in 1899 : "This society was institu- 
ted in 1804, with the object of circulating the Word 
of God throughout the world. Nearly thirteen 
millions sterling have been spent by it in the work 
of translating, revising, printing, and circulating 
the Scriptures, and more than one hundred and 
sixty millions of Bibles, Testaments and portions 
have issued from its depots in over three hundred 
and sixty languages and dialects^ many of which 
have been reduced to writing for the first time. 
In this work the Society has been aided by every 
section of Christ's Church, by the leaders and 
friends of Christian enterprise, by scholars and 
philologists, among missionaries, foreign as well 
as British. There is no country in the world which 
has not felt the influence of this Society." Bear 
this in mind when considering Christ's prophecy : 
"And the Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached 
in all the world for a witness unto all nations ; and 
then shall the end come." (Matt. 24 : 14.) 

In conclusion let it be said that "our Bible" is 
far truer, far grander probably than any have 
ever believed. 



60 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

There are two widely divergent classes of peo- 
ple who look upon its sacred pages from opposite 
standpoints, the deniers, and the professed believ- 
ers, each strangely wide of the mark of truth. 

First, the skeptical, the intellectually vain and 
conceited, the boasting infidel and now and then 
a reckless dare-devil sort of a person with suffi- 
cient temerity to proclaim himself an atheist. 
These are grovelling in the mire of animal barn- 
yards and cannot, of course, apprehend or even 
discern anything spiritual. They are the human 
fruit of evil influence exerted by the opposite class 
of people, those of ignorant, blind faith, good 
enough, may be, were it not for the deplor- 
able fact that their making of Biblical interpreta- 
tion so much of positive contradiction and farce, 
as to be in direct disobedience of the divine man- 
date contained in the Bible itself. Many good 
people have felt impelled to relinquish belief and 
hope in Bible and Religion and God because of 
false interpretation and teaching. 

Second, those of blind faith, loudly professed, 
while at the same time they know they are dis- 
obeying Christ and the Bible as a complete whole, 
by ignoring the commands thereof, such as the 
Sermon on the Mount, living and doing by which 
always has been and ever will be quite sufficient. 
By such living and doing there would be no such 
violation of God's commands. On the contrary 
there would be a true spiritual unf oldment insuring 



THE BIBLE 61 



due knowledge and appreciation of God and His 

REVEALED TRUTH ! 

How many have exclaimed, "Oh Religion ! what 
crimes have been committed in thy name ! " With 
like truth we exclaim, Oh Bible ! what gross frauds, 
what crimes have been perpetrated in thy name ! 
What a terrible crime. Who can specify a greater 
crime against human rights, liberty, justice ; 
against God and His irrevocable commands, than 
that of the powers of the church making it a crime 
punishable with diabolical torture, and then death 
to any of the God-fearing laity in whose posses- 
sion should be found a copy of the Bible! Think, 
think of it ! A crime to have and to read the Word 
of God intended for the instruction, edification 
and blessing of all His children without regard to 
racial or other distinction or difference ! Look at 
history and blush with shame and indignation! 
History which discloses the horrors of worse than 
than cannibalistic crimes, and as late as the 15th 
century, recording the most damnable fiendish tor- 
tures and murders of people in England, and in 
the iniquitous Spanish Inquisition — for what 
crimes? Merely and only for being guilty of 
reading the Word of Revealed Truth of God ! 

Verily, in every age of the world the church of 
hellish negation, misnamed the church of God, has 
ever resisted and opposed the new and true revela- 
tions of Divine Truth, and has abused, tortured 
and killed, if possible, those who endeavored, as 



62 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

true children of God, to obey the Divine Princi- 
ples of Love, Truth, Mercy, progress and 
development commands clearly promulgated and 
intended by the Beneficejit Creator for the real 
and true attainment of all the children of God. 

But, and worse still, human progress in every 
age has been bitterly opposed by "the church," 
not only in matters spiritual, but in nearly every 
way. Look to the days of the American Revolu- 
tion ! Note the red pages of anti-slavery history ! 
Who will presume to question the accuracy and 
justice of Christ's words of condemnation of the 
false clergy who, nevertheless, have the brazen- 
ness to call themselves ministers of Christ? Verily 
it is the truth which hurts ! 



PROPHECY 



CHAPTER V 




HRIST said "It is written in the Proph- 
ets, and they shall be all taught of God. 
Every man therefore that hath heard, 
and hath learned of the Father, cometh 
unto Me.'' (St. John 6 : 45.) 

The Messengers of God with the Word (His 
Truth) are directed to : "Go through, go through 
the gates ; prepare ye the way of the people ; cast 
up, cast up the highway ; gather out the stones ; 
lift up a standard for the people." (Isaiah 62 : 10) 

"Behold, I will send My Messenger (Elijah,) 
and he shall prepare the way before Me : and the 
Lord, Whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His 
Temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant, 
whom ye delight in : behold. He shall come, saith 
the Lord of hosts." (Malachi 3:1.) 

"O, My Friends ! Have ye forgotten that clear 
bright morn when ye were all in My Presence in 
that blessed plain under the shade of the Tree of 
Anyssa (the Tree of Life named in Gen. and Rev.), 
planted in the Greatest Paradise ; when I spake 
unto ye three Blessed Words, the hearing of which 
confounded ye all? These are those Words : 'O, 
friends, choose not your pleasure instead of Mine ; 
never wish for that which I have not ordained for 
ye, and approach Me not with dead minds stained 



64 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

with desire and hope. If ye purify your hearts, 
ye will ponder over the state of the plain of that 
Court, and then My explanation will be known to 
ye all.'" (The Word of God through Baha'UUah.) 

In the eighth of the Lines of Holiness, in the 
fifth Tablet of Paradise, He commands, saying : 

"O, dead men on the bed of negligence ! Cen- 
turies have passed, and ye have ended your prec- 
ious lives ; yet not a single pure soul hath ever 
come to Our Field of Holiness. Ye are talking in 
Oneness, while ye are drowned in the sea of poly- 
theism. Ye have loved the one (world — carnal 
conditions) which is hated by Me, and ye have 
taken My enemy as your own friend ; ye are walk- 
ing with the greatest pleasure and mirth upon My 
earth, heedless that My earth detests you, and 
that the things of the earth are fleeing from you. 
If ye open your eyes but a little, ye will know 
that a hundred thousand griefs are better than thy 
pleasure, and will count death as more to be pre- 
ferred than this life." 

The prophets have been the mediums through 
whom the heavenly teachings have come. One 
prophetic dispensation or cycle has constantly fol- 
lowed another. At every time of the renewal of 
God's Covenant of His Religion with His creatures, 
it is evident that the Truth has always come in a 
manner, of simplicity and purity, calculated to 
deceive those arrogant people suffering with too 
much pride of intellect and self -righteousness. 



PROPHECY 65 



These are the ones referred to by the prophet 
Isaiah (6 : 9-10) "Hear ye, indeed, but understand 
not ; and see ye, indeed, but perceive not. Make 
the heart of this people fat and make their ears 
heavy, and shut their eyes ; lest they see with their 
eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand 
with their heart, and convert, and be healed." 

Christ said : "Because they seeing see not ; and 
hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." 
(Matt. 13 : 13.) "Having eyes, see ye not? and 
having ears, hear ye not?" (Mark 8 : 18.) 

In the dawning time of every new religious dis- 
pensation of the past, the clergy has ever been 
the generation of vipers, to deny and oppose God's 
Revelation. It is so now in the Orient. Will it 
be the same here, or will our clergy learn from 
the past? 

The prophets or messengers of God have always 
spoken in a tongue, used terms containing hidden 
meanings ; employed words or signs which veiled 
in symbology the true intended meaning of which 
has never been nor could be understood by any 
who were not versed in the mysteries of God, that 
is to say, who were not suflSciently created, devel- 
oped or grown into a spiritual state or condition, 
to be able to apprehend, to recognize, to grasp 
and understand spiritual things, — the things which 
are godly. All lacking or deficient, as above, only 
comprehend the mere literal, the letter of the 
words or symbols, but not the real spiritual Truth, 



66 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

the inner or spiritual significance for perfected 
man. 

The sacred Scriptures, the most ancient, as well 
as the later revelations of God's Truth, through 
His inspired prophets and messengers, are all 
known and provable to be absolutely true and in 
harmonious accord, so far as the spiritual teach- 
ings, laws, commandments and prophecies are 
concerned. 

Mankind in the earlier ages was less able and 
prepared to receive, understand and appropriate 
those words of Truth than now, but all along down 
the ages, growth and development have been logi- 
cally, orderly progressive in advancement ; slowly, 
it may seem, but always and steadily onward and 
upward, so that each succeeding age has witnessed 
this : that man has been serially, orderly, succes- 
sively more ready to perceive and receive, under- 
standingly, higher and more complete teachings, 
than was true of the preceding age. 

God, the Eternal Creator and Sustainer of all, 
being unchangeably perfect, and all Truth and 
Knowledge emanating from Him, it is absolutely 
self-evident that His Revealed Truth was just as 
certainly, as rigidly true and correct through His 
earliest, as through His latest prophets. 

It being clearly apparent that in the earlier ages 
the further back we go, the less do we find that 
man was able to receive, it is equally clear that 
the amount of teaching imparted was much less 



PROPHECY 67 



and that much of that which was imparted was 
clothed in mere figure, letter, symbol, allegory and 
parable, conveying a certain meaning, interpreted 
literally and outwardly, and a far different, higher 
and more beautiful and complete meaning, when 
interpreted correctly from the inward or spiritual 
significances, always from the beginning intended 
to be understood by man, when, in his upward 
march, he should become able to interpret, assim- 
ilate and abide by higher or spiritual things pre- 
pared for him "since the foundation of the world !" 

This is corroborated by Christ in His declaration 
that He had much to give the world, but the world 
was not then ready, but He would come again 
"after a little" (1900 years is but a little with God 
and His world building) and then all would be 
made plain. 

"It is perceived that the whole train of events 
recorded, the whole of those lofty, impassioned 
strains of poetry which distinguish the volume, 
are precursory and prophetic of a great change, 
which, at a future period, was to be wrought on 
the moral properties and fate of mankind, by the 
coming to the earth of a Messiah." (Kitto's Bible 
History.) And far more too, for it presaged not 
only the coming of the Messiah in Christ, but 
the later coming of the Manifestation of God, the 
Father, to establish the Kingdom of God upon 
earth, just as taught by Christ and the prophets, 
all of whom clearly foretold the coming of the 
Day of God ! 



68 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

A prophet appearing may be known to be a 
true one : 

1. If he manifests great knowledge and cures 
the sin sick world of infidelity which is changed 
into unity ; changes faithlessness into faith ; ig- 
norance into wisdom ; discord into harmony ; hat- 
red and hostility into love, and treachery into 
trustworthiness . 

2. Through the power he manifests, which over- 
comes and subdues the world, in spite of opposi- 
tion from all people, including the prophet's own 
family. The Power of God is Invincible ! 

"The tree is known by his fruit" (Matt. 12 :33). 
Moses shows in Deut. 18 how to tell the true from 
the false prophets. We know a false prophet be- 
cause he seeks and clings to worldly power and 
riches. No true prophet of God does that. God's 
Kingdom is spiritual as Christ said. The invin- 
cible power, the penetration of the words of Christ 
was the greatest proof of His Divine Station, yet 
the world was so dense that it was centuries be- 
fore Christianity became effective by being recog- 
nized by a world power through the Roman Caesars. 

A prophetic day is the world period lapsing 
from the departure of one prophet, until the ap- 
pearance of another. 

''It is not strange that one prophet announced 
himself as the 'Friend of God,' another as the 
Tnterlocutor of God,' one as the 'Apostle of God,' 
another as the 'Son of God,' and another as God 



PROPHECY 69 



Himself." Study Christ's parable of the Lord of 
the Vineyard. (Luke 20.) 

"In respect to the ever-increasing utterance and 
manifested power of the successive prophets, note 
the following parable : 'A certain king holding 
sway over a vast empire, desired to discover with 
his own eyes the causes of disorder, et cetera. He 
decided to go himself in disguise and mix with the 
people. He went as an army oiBcer bearing his 
own letter as king introducing himself. Matters 
improved and then he proclaimed himself as the 
king's own minister, producing a letter as before. 
Last of all he threw off all disguise and showed 
himself as the king. Now he was all the time the 
king, though he was not so known. There was 
no real difference in his power and majesty. So 
it is with the Divine Will or Universal Reason 
which, becoming manifest from time to time for 
our guidance, declares itself now as the Apostle, 
then as the Son, and last of all God himself.'" 
(Browne's "Persia," p. 399.) 

Every Religious Dispensation or Prophetical 
Day has its four seasons as has the year. As the 
four annual seasons result from the movement of 
the earth rather than from the sun's movements, 
so the four Cycle seasons result from the action of 
wilful and disobedient man, and not from the de- 
cree of God. 

"As the close of a Cycle draws near mankind 
drifts into a cold and dreary winter of farness from 



70 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

God. Then comes the new prophet with his mes- 
sage of Truth bringing the springtime of the awak- 
ening and quickening of souls into life and hope. 
Summertime follows with a large growth of fol- 
lowers. The crop is bounteous and convictions 
become settled, but finally the autumn time arrives 
with its chilly frosts of disagreeing and contending 
minds and a gradual falling away from the Truth 
of God, being attracted by the glitter and elo- 
quence of the world and lured into factional divi- 
sions and strifes, till finally the cold and bleak winter 
time is again reached, finding the people falling 
away from Truth, keeping up only the outward 
form of religious observance. 

"We have just begun to emerge from a long 
dreary winter following the Great Christ Dispen- 
sation. The Lord of the entire Universe has 
again manifested the Sun of His Truth, the eternal 
Truth of God, the only thing which is unchange- 
able. Does the great event find the the world 
dwelling in brotherly love, peace and harmony? 
We wish we could answer in the affirmative, but 
truth bids us acknowledge that such is not the 
case. 

"No one can say that Christ did not lay the 
foundation of Religion sublimely, no one can lay 
the blame upon Him or upon God, consequently 
we must admit that the world has not been content 
to practice the virtues contained in the beautiful, 
simple teachings of Christ, but has persisted in 



PROPHECY 71 



disobedience. Christ and the prophets gave dis- 
tinct instructions. Instead of obeying the teach- 
ings and commands which are couched in plain 
and simple terms, we have sought to interpret and 
understand the things that were concealed within 
symbol, allegory and parable, and, as it was ex- 
plicitly stated, were not to be understood until 
the "time of the end," when the One worthy to 
open and read the Book would appear. (Rev. 5 : ) 

"It is high time to pray to be delivered from 
superstition and imagination. Many ages back 
the wrong doing in disobedience began and later 
ages have clung closer to that than to the things 
Christ and the prophets mapped out for us. (Read 
Isa. 53 ; St. John 1 ; Isa. 6 :9-10.) 

"The 'trumpet call' (the voice of angels or Truth 
of God) on the Second Coming of Christ, will 
be heard only by His sheep, that is to say, the 
true believers in God, at first, for they are like 
unto Him in spirit, consequently they are His 
elect ! The Word of God draws the believers as 
the magnet draws the iron. The magnet will not 
attract brass, zinc, copper or even gold ; it influ- 
ences iron and steel only. The spiritually wise 
understand and believe. The foolish and unwise 
will not." ("Signs of the Prophet," by Harris, p. 6, 
and Browne's "A Year Amongst the Persians".) 

As a rule (probably unvarying) every prophet 
or messenger of God to the world has been greater 
than his predecessor, that is, hehas manifested a 
greater Word, a greater work, as already stated, and 



72 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

this because the world has been steadily becoming 
more ready to receive and understand higher 
teachings. The growth and development of man- 
kind, from the time when man was a mere animal 
up to the present time has been a long process but 
always serially and orderly. The identity of the 
prophets is in one thing always equal and the same, 
and that is in the Spirit or Word of God manifested 
in and through them. 

We have spoken of two ways for determining 
whether a prophet be a true one. In reality there 
are four great proofs of prophethood : 

1. The book which is given to the prophet, (re- 
vealed from God), namely, the Words of Truth 
from God : such for instance as The Law of 
Moses, the Ten Commandments, and The New 
Testament. 

2. The power which the prophet possesses by 
which he converts the people, leading them from 
darkness to light wholly without oflScial power, 
money, or earthly authority, but only with the 
power and authority from God. 

3. The mighty works and signs promulgated by 
them. 

4. The glad tidings from the former prophets 
concerning those to come later. Christ was fore- 
told by practically all the former prophets, but 
there was far more prophecy of His second com- 
ing than of His first coming. 

Here are some eloquent words from Professor 



PROPHECY 73 



Edward G. Browne's "A Year Amongst the Per- 
sians," concerning true wisdom and knowledge : 
''The signs whereby the prophet is known are 
these : though untaught in the learning esteemed 
of men, he is wise in true wisdom ; he speaks a 
word which is creative and constructive ; his work 
so deeply affects the hearts of men that for it they 
are willing to forego wealth and comfort, fame 
and family, even life itself. What the prophet 
says, comes to pass. Consider Mohammed. He 
was surrounded by enemies, he was scoffed at and 
opposed by the most powerful wealthy of his peo- 
ple ; he was derided as a mad man, treated as an 
inposter. But his enemies have passed away and 
his word remains. He said : 'You shall feast in 
the month of Eamazan,' and behold, thousands 
and thousands obey that word to this day. He 
said : 'You shall make a pilgrimage to Mecca if 
you are able, 'and every year brings thither count- 
less pilgrims from all quarters of the globe. This 
is a special character of the prophetic word ; it 
fulfils itself ; it creates ; it triumphs. 

"Kings and rulers strove to extinguish the word 
of Christ, but they could not ; and now kings and 
rulers make it their pride that they are Christ's 
servants. Against all opposition, against all per- 
secution, unsupported by human might, what the 
prophet says comes to pass. This is a true mira- 
cle, the greatest possible miracle, and indeed the 
only miracle which is proof to future ages and 



74 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

distant peoples. . . . When a man rises amongst 
a people, untaught and unsupported, yet speaking 
a word which causes empires to change, hierarch- 
ies to fall, and thousands to die willingly in obed- 
ience to it, that is a proof absolute and positive 
that the word spoken is from God. This is the 
proof to which we point m support of our relig- 
ion. (Bahaism.) What you have already learned 
concerning its origin will suffice to convince you 
that in no previous manifestation was it clearer 
and more complete." 

The following is a further quotation of a state- 
ment by Babis in Persia : "Each of the prophets 
is a manifestation of one of the Names (or attri- 
butes) of God. The name manifested in the Bab 
was the highest of all, — Wahid, the One. Hence 
it is that 19 is, amongst the Babis, the sacred num- 
ber according to which all things are arranged, 
the months of the year, the days of the months, 
the chapters in the Beyan, the fines imposed for 
certain offences and many other things, for 19 is 
the numerical value of the word Wahid according 
to the abjad notation in which every letter has a 
numerical equivalent, and each word a correspond- 
ing number formed by the addition of its compo- 
nent letters. This sacred number was manifested 
even at the first appearance of the Bab, for 18 of 
his fellow students at once believed in him. These 
18 are called the "Letters of the Living," because 
they were the creative agents employed by the Bab 



PROPHECY 75 



for bestowing new life upon the world, and be- 
cause the numerical value of the word Hayy is 18. 
All of them were inspired, and persuaded by the 
Bab, the One (Wahid) and with him constitute 
the manifested unity (Wahid of 19). 

"Thus the visible church on earth was a type of 
the One God, one in essence, but revealed through 
the Names, whereby the essence can alone be com- 
prehended. But this is not all; each of the 19 
members of the "Unity" gained 19 converts, so 
that the primitive church comprised 361 persons 
in all. This is called the "Number of all things," 
for 361 is the square of 19, and the further ex- 
pansion thereof, as is also the numerical equiva- 
lent of the word Kullu Shey, which means ''AH 
Things." This is why the Babi year, like the 
Beyan, is arranged according to the number of 19 
months of 19 days each. But the Babi is a 
solar year containing 366 days. These five addi- 
tional days are added at the beginning of the last 
month, which is the month of fasting, and are com- 
manded to be spent in entertaining one's friends, 
and the poor, as is written in the Kitab-i-Akdas." 

In the earlier ages the words of the prophets 
had to be taken wholly on faith, Now we have 
the facts of history — the lulfilment of the prophet- 
ic word — in addition to the faith which all true 
children of God must have. In such, Faith is just 
as certain as is instinct in the lower animals. This 
everyone is bound to recognize. 



76 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

For instance, that remarkable prophecy of Moses 
in the 33rd chapter of Deut. verse 2, (hereinafter 
referred to more particularly) has seemed mean- 
ingless these many ages for want of adequate 
interpretation. Until recently, the remarkable 
wealth of truth contained therein, has, like an un- 
discovered gold mine of fabulous value, been ig- 
nored by those who have been wholly oblivious 
or dead to the real truth. 

Faith is a distinct and very high phase or char- 
acteristic of the human soul or being. It is just 
as much a known quantity as is instinct in the 
lower animals, but its high station is only to be 
realized by such as recognize the scientific fact of 
the Divine Father and who sincerely seek the 
Kingdom. 

Faith is something which cannot be weighed in 
a grocer's scales or measured by a yard stick ; the 
same is true regarding the principle of mathemat- 
ics, yet both are equally facts. 

The Mosaic prophecy can now be understood 
and accepted by the mere intelligence and without 
special exercise of faith, because it has not only 
been fully explained but actually fulfilled, as will 
be shown hereafter. 

The reality of religion is practical. It is in re- 
ality common sense and scientific fact ! 

The most important thing in all the world is the 
real Man, which is Spirit, and his relation to 



PROPHECY 77 



God, and how to accomplish the real object for 
which we are here on the earth. 

Common sense, science, and religion are, in- 
deed, '* one and inseparable" And all come from 
God, the One Source of All Truth ! 

In all the ages there has been no greater * 'mir- 
acle" than Prophecy ! 



SYMBOLIC WORDS OF THE BIBLE 

THE TRUE MEANING INTERPRETED 



CHAPTER VI 




ANY of the Biblical words were em- 
ployed to express other and far higher 
than the ordinary literal meaning. Of 
this fact the Bible itself is replete with 
irrefutable proofs. Words and other symbols, so 
frequently employed in prophecy, the most impor- 
tant of Biblical teachings, found from the be- 
ginning to the end of the Bible, notably in the 
most remarkable of all Books, Eevelation, abso- 
lutely the greatest of all books of Prophecy, ex- 
press both a literal or physical or outward mean- 
ing, and an inner, higher and spiritual significance. 
The latter, of course, is revealed only through 
spiritual interpretation and, obviously, only to 
those who are sincere and spiritually minded. 

Jesus Christ declared : "These things have I 
spoken unto you in proverbs, but the time cometh 
when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, 
but I shall show you plainly of the Father. "(John 
16:25). 

There is no room for doubting Christ's mean- 
ing that God the Father Himself would come to 
the world, that is to say, that God's Word would 
be manifest in the flesh, a human body or temple. 



SYMBOLIC WORDS OF THE BIBLE 79 

in the station of the Father, the Lord of the Vine- 
yard ! Is not this just as natural as the lesser 
stations of the prophets and the dearly Beloved 
Son? (Read Isa. 9:6-7; chapter 35 ; 62 : 1-4 ; 65 : 
9-10; Ezek. 20:40-49.) 

"Alpha and Omega." See "Trumpet." 

"Ancient of Days" clearly refers to and was 
prophecy of the coming of the Manifestation of 
God as the Creator and Father Himself, for none 
other could be given or have "dominion and glory 
and a kingdom, that all people, nations and lang- 
uages should serve Him : His dominion is an ever- 
lasting dominion which shall not pass away, and 
His Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." 
(Dan. 7 : 9-14 ; Rev. 1 : 8, 10, 12-17 and 5 : 4-7.) 

In time, and that time is rapidly drawing near, 
the whole world will know that this wonderful 
prophecy was the Glory of God Manifestation^ the 
Father, the "Lord of the Vineyard" as prophesied 
by Jesus Christ and other prophets. 

"Ano:els." "When the Son of Man shall come 
in His Glory, and all the holy angels with Him, 
then shall He sit upon the throne of His Glory." 
(Matt. 25:31.) 

Angels are the true and faithful believers in 
God's Truth on the earth at the time of the coming 
of the Son of Man. This is clearly apparent ; 
that, as the coming of the Son of Man is His 
(Spirit) coming in the human form, it must be 
the same with the Angels, that is, that they too 



80 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

would be on earth, consequently, it must be a fact 
that angels here refer to the true and faithful be- 
lievers on earth — not to "spirits" or beings of an- 
other or spiritual realm ! 

The angels are the true believers, the ''sheep," 
as distinguished from the ''goats," the unbelievers. 

Eead Christ's parable of the Kingdom of Heaven 
being "likened unto leaven, which a woman took 
and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole 
was leavened." (Matt. 13 : 33.) 

Jesus spoke in parables to the multitudes "that 
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the 
prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parable ; 
I will utter things which have been kept secret 
from the foundation of the world." (verses 34-5.) 

His parable of the good seeds and the tares, 
just preceding the above, has also the spiritual 
significance of referring to the believers and the 
unbelievers, and surely foretells the coming of 
the Day of God. Speaking of the good and the 
bad seed He spoke against plucking up the tares 
then, saying : "Let them both grow up together 
until the harvest ; and in the time of harvest I will 
say to the reapers. Gather ye together first the 
tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them : but 
gather the wheat into my barn." (Matt. 13 : 30.) 

His disciples asked Him to explain this parable 
of the tares of the field. He answered and said 
unto them : "He that soweth the good seed is the 
Son of Man ; the field is the world ; the good seed 



SYMBOLIC WORDS OF THE BIBLE 8! 

are the children of the Kingdom ; but the tares 
are the children of the wicked one ; the enemy 
that sowed them is the devil ; the harvest is the 
end of the world ; and the reapers are the angels. 
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in 
the fire ; so shall it be in the end of the world. 
The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and 
they shall gather out of His Kingdom all things 
that offend, and them which do iniquity." (Matt. 
13 : 37-41.) And verse 49, following the parable 
of the hidden treasure and the net and fishes : ''So 
shall it be at the end of the world : The angels 
shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among 
the just." 

At this present time, which is the real ''end of 
the world," Christ (the Word ; the Spirit of the 
Sonship of God ; the Way, the Truth, the Life) 
was to come again : "For the Son of Man shall 
come in the Glory of His Father with his angels : 
and then He shall reward every man according to 
his works." (Matt. 16 : 27.) 

Paul in his Epistles to the Ephesians (1 : 21) 
refers to "every name that is named, not only in 
this world, but also in that which is to come." 
Angels on earth are the elect, or true believers, 
and doers ; those who are faithful and steadfast 
to Christ and God. 

"God was to be manifest in the flesh, justified 
in the Spirit, seen of Angels," (1 Tim. 3 : 16) in 
the Kingdom of God on earth. And (5:21) Paul 



82 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

says : ''1 charge thee before God, and the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou ob- 
serve these things without preferring one before 
another," etc. 

Paul to the Hebrews (1:6) said : '*And again, 
when He bringeth in the first begotten (of the 
Spirit, Christ, the Sonship Manifestation of God) 
into the world, he saith. And let all the angels of 
God worship Him." And verses 13-14: ''But to 
which of the angels said He at any time, sit on 
My right hand, until I make thine enemies thy 
foot-stool? Are they not all ministering spirits, 
sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs 
of salvation ?" 

Here is a positive proof through the revelation 
of Christ that ''angels" were of the earth, for the 
'•seven churches" referred to were of the earth: 

"The mystery of the seven stars which thou 
sawest in thy right hand, and the seven golden 
candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of 
the seven churches : and the seven candlesticks 
which thou sawest are the seven churches." (Rev. 
1 : 20.) 

Read also the second and third chapters of 
Revelation. 

From the words of the prophets, beginning 
with Moses, we see clearly that the word "angel" 
refers to the pure, true believers in God and His 
Truth on earthy as well as those beyond us in 
spiritual realms. 



SYMBOLIC WORDS OF THE BIBLE 83 

''Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep 
thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place 
which I have prepared." (Ex. 23 :30.) This was 
the Word of God, speaking through the prophet, 
instructing physical man on the material earth, 
and it is obvious that the angel must be seen of 
material eyes, and must have been also in the flesh, 
rather than a spirit in another realm. We must 
never lose sight of the positive fact that God and 
His creation and laws are perfect, and that it is 
inconceivable that Perfect God could or would 
violate His Perfect Law ! 

''To fetch about this form of speech hath thy 
servant Joab done this thing ; and my lord is 
wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, 
to know all things that are in the earth." (2 Sam. 
14:20.) This lord is an earthly king, and it is 
evident that his being wise was comparable to an 
earthly angel, that is to say, a believer so true and^ 
pure as to have reflected in him the spirit andW 
truth of God. 

"The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even 
thousands of angels ; the Lord is among them, as 
in Sinai y in the holy place." (Psa. 68 : 17.) This 
also clearly refers to earthly angels or believers. 
Mt. Sinai was and is of the earth, and "Who 
maketh his Angels spirits ; his ministers a flaming 
fire," (Psa. 104 : 4), is the same as all who are 
thoughtful and spiritually awakened must be able 
to perceive. It is evident, however, that by "min- 



84 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

isters" is meant true ministers ; not of the phari- 
saical sort so roundly denounced by Christ and all 
of the great and true prophets of God. 

''Beast" and "Whale" were employed as sym- 
bols of tyrannical earthly kings : ''These great 
beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall 
arise out of the earth." (Dan. 7 : 17.) "Son of 
man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of 
Egypt, and say unto him, thou art like a young 
lion of the nations, thou art as a Whale in the 
seas, etc." (Ezek. 32 : 2.) Remember this when 
considering the story of spiritual significance and 
purpose regarding Jonah and the whale. 

"Bread." When Christ said : "This is the bread 
which cometh down from heaven ; that a man may 
eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread 
which came down from heaven ; if any man eat of 
this breads he shall live forever ; and the bread 
that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for 
the life of the world." (John 6 : 50-51.) He cer- 
tainly meant the word "bread" to symbolize the 
spiritual Truth or Word or Teachings of God, 
because : 

1. Material or physical bread could not come 
from the spiritual realm. 

2. The bread to which Christ referred was ob- 
viously to feed the soul, spirit of the life of man 
-—not his physical body ! 

3. The physical body is for the material, tem- 
poral world ; not for "forever !" 



SYMBOLIC WORDS OF THE BIBLE 85 

*'City." This word was employed symbolically 
to indicate the religion or spiritual Truth of and 
from God. This was to come in fullness, com- 
pleteness and perfection at ''the end of time," and 
all that has gone before has led up to this great 
reality. 

'<And I John saw the Holy City, New Jerusa- 
lem, coming down from God out of Heaven, pre- 
pared as a bride for her husband. And I heard a 
great Voice out of heaven saying : Behold, the 
tabernacle of God is with man, and He will dwell 
with them, and they shall be His people, and God 
TEriuelf shall be with them^ and be their God,'' 
(Rev. 21 : 2-3-) 

We have seen in Ezekiel that all mankind 
(flesh) shall see God — on earth, of course. 

"And the Word became flesh, and pitched His 
tent amongst us ; and we gazed upon His Glory." 
(John 1 ; 14, Rotherham.) 

''Cloud." This word used in reference to the 
second coming of the Christ or Messiah Spirit of 
the World, signified the human body, the earthly 
temple or dwelling place of the spirit of real man, 
and more, the Messenger Spirit as the educator of 
and from God ; materiality, earthly conditions, or 
human ignorance which veils men from the spirit- 
ual Truth of God. 

"And Moses went up into the Mount, and a 
Cloud covered the Mount. And the glory of the 
Lord abode upon Mt. Sinai, and the Cloud cov- 



86 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

ered it six days ; and the seventh day He called 
unto Moses out of the midst of the Cloud. And 
the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devour- 
ing fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of 
the children of Israel." (Ex. 24: 15-17.) ''And 
the Lord descended in the Cloud, and stood with 
him (Moses) there and proclaimed the Name of 
the Lord." (Ex. 34: 5) ''And the Lord said 
unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that 
he come not at all times into the holy place with- 
in the vail (or veil?) before the mercy seat, which 
is upon the ark ; that he die not : (spiritual death) 
for I will appear in the Cloud upon the mercy 
seat." (Lev, 16 : 2.) "And the Lord came in a 
Cloudy ^nd spake unto Lim (Moses)." (Num. 11 ; 
23.) "And the Lord came down in the pillar of 
the Cloud, and stood inthedoor of the tabernacle, 
and called Aaron and Miriam : and they both 
came forth. And He said. Hear now My Words : 
If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will 
make Myself known unto him in a vision" etc. 
(Num. 12 ; 5-6.) 

"And it came to pass, when the priests were 
come out of the holy place, that the Cloud filled 
the House of the Lord, so that the priests could 
not stand to minister because of the Cloud : for 
the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the 
Lord. "(1 Kings 8:10-11.) 

"And the glory of the Lord went up from the 
Cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house ; 



SYMBOLIC WORDS OF THE BIBLE 87 

and the house was filled with the Cloud, and the 
court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glo- 
ry." (Ezek. 10 : 4.) 

"And then shall they see the Son of Man com- 
ing in a Cloud with power and great glory.'' (Lu. 
21:27.) 

"And I looked, and behold a white Cloud, and 
upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, 
having on His head a golden crown, and in his 
hand a sharp sickle." (Rev. 14 :14.) 

This prophecy revealed by Christ through St. 
John, regarding His second coming in the flesh, 
was prophesied by Daniel the prophet 550 years 
B. C. : "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, 
one like the Son of Man came with the Clouds of 
heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, (that 
is to say, to and with the manifestation of God, 
Himself) and they brought him near before Him." 
(Dan. 7;13.) 

The following verse, together with all these 
quotations, shows conclusively that the word Cloud 
is not to be taken literally, but as a symbol. Fur- 
thermore they show that the Word of God always 
comes in a cloud — is manifested in and on the low 
plane of man, in material conditions and environ- 
ments, so as to be within the reach of the physical 
man, that is, human beings on the earthly plane : 
'< While He, (Christ) yet spake, behold a bright 
Cloud overshadowed them : and behold a voice out 
of the Cloud, which said. This is My beloved Son, 



88 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

in whom I am well pleased : hear ye Him." (Matt. 
17:15.) 

*' Behold, He cometh with Clouds ; and every 
eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced 
Him ; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail be- 
cause of Him. Even so Amen." (Rev. 1 :7.) 

Man has been woefully in error all the ages 
since Christ in believing that on His second com- 
ing He would come to the earth in a literal, phys- 
ical, rain cloud of the air. We have persisted in 
this foolish belief in the very face and eyes of the 
declaration of Christ that ; *' Spirit hath not flesh 
and bones." (Luke 24 : 39.) How very foolish it 
has been to hold that flesh and bones could come 
from the spiritual realm. The grand Apostle Paul 
said : '^Flesh and blood cannot inherit the King- 
dom of God." (1 Cor. 15 : 50.) 

''Day." This word has many meanings. It is 
to be interpreted in accordance with the spirit, 
harmony and conditions in which it is employed. 

The first meaning is that of the ordinary day of 
24 hours. This is clear and requires no argument. 
In applying this to the resurrection of Christ in 
three days, over which there has ever been and is 
so much lack of understanding, the interpretation 
by one of our greatest world teachers is substan- 
tially as follows : After the crucifixion, by reason 
of the tyranny and wickedness of the Jews, who 
strove in all their might to uproot and annihilate 
the mission and words of Jesus and His followers, 



SYMBOLIC WORDS OF THE BIBLE 89 

the blessed name of Jesus Christ was not men- 
tioned by or among the disciples and followers 
during the three ordinary days and nights, hence 
the Sun of Truth was outwardly buried or con- 
cealed during that period of time. At this time 
Peter, the Moon reflected light of Christ's teach- 
ings, and all the others were greatly depressed, 
indeed discouraged. On the expiration of these 
three days and nights, Mary Magdalen, whose un- 
daunted conviction, faith, courage and steadfast- 
ness, caused her name to be perpetually honored, 
perse veringly devoted herself to the work of calling 
the disciples from their places of retirement into 
the presence of Peter. Thus was the work of 
Christ's mission resumed and continued after 
^* three days" ; thus did the body of Christ's im- 
mortal teachings arise from the grave of tempo- 
rary disappearance. This great work has contin- 
ued down through all the ages, under varying and 
frequently disturbing conditions and obstacles, 
until all the civilized world has heard the glorious 
Message of Divine Truth revealed from God 
through the lowly Nazarene. But what a sad 
falling away from the true spirit of those Glad 
Tidings is witnessed on all sides. 

The second interpretation of the word '<Day" 
applies to the period of one of our ordinary years. 
According to the learned Jewish doctors, '*Youm 
Leshan" in Hebrew means **a day for a year." 
Most of our Christian scholars have relied upon 



90 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

this interpretation in their commentaries on the 
Old and New Testaments. 

** After the number of the days in which ye 
searched the land, even forty days, each day for 
a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty 
years and ye shall know My breach of promise." 
(Num. 14 : 34) 

''I have appointed thee each day for a year.'' 
(Ezek. 4:6.) 

The important dates in the eighth and twelfth 
chapters of Daniel and Revelation 11 and 12 and 
other prophecies of vast significance and impor- 
tance, have been interpreted in this way of ^^a 
day for a year" by the learned Jewish and Christ- 
ian scholars. This meaning does not apply in the 
interpretation of the * 'Resurrection of Christ after 
three days." 

The third interpretation may be said to obtain 
in reference to certain material periods of time, 
such as the Day or period of Cyrus, of David, of 
Solomon, or in our country, the Day of Lincoln, 
of Grant, etc. 

The fourth meaning of the word ''Day" applies 
to "one thousand years," called the "Lordly Day.'' 
"For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as 
yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the 
night." (Psa. 90 : 4.) 

"But, beloved be not ignorant of this one thing, 
that one Day is with the Lord as a thoue^and years, 
and a thousand years as one Day." (2 Pet. 3:8.) 



SYMBOLIC WORDS OF THE BIBLE 91 

This interpretation applies to one phase of the 
Christ millenium referred to in His revelation 
through St, John, but does not apply in the great 
matter of the reality of Resurrection. 

The fifth interpretation is more especially spirit- 
ual and is of the most vital importance . It assuredly 
refers to the Days of the prophets or messengers 
of God ; to the religious dispensations, cycles or 
ages, during which the teachings or revelations of 
the particular prophet or messenger, inaugurating 
his respective Day or dispensation, prevail or hold 
good or remain effective or in force, or are sup- 
posed to, so to speak, and until his successor ap- 
pears with a more elaborate or later standard of 
guidance for the world. 

Each of these "Days" or prophetic periods of 
time, comprises a day-time and a night-time. The 
day-time is the period during which the prophet is 
alive on earth and His glorious sun of Truth is 
manifest and alive among the people. The night- 
time of such period is the time lapsing from the 
departure of the prophet until the coming of a 
succeeding prophet or messenger, or the later part 
of his dispensation, when the divine spiritual teach- 
ings through him have become darkened, veiled, 
obscured and dead through the neglect of the 
people who have fallen away from the Truth, al- 
ways more markedly observed toward the close of 
each dispensation or great Day! The thoughtful 
cannot fail to notice the great falling away of the 



92 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

Mohammedans from the teachings of Mohammed, 
and of the Christians from the teachings of Jesus 
Christ. 

The day of Moses lasted from the beginning of 
his mission and work until the coming of Jesus 
Christ. 

Christ referred to His Day-time lasting during 
His being on the earth and His night-time being 
the period of time lasting from His departure un- 
til the coming of the next divine messenger, when 
He declared: '*I must work the works of Him 
that sent Me, while it is Day : the night cometh 
when no man can work. As long as I am in the 
world, I am the Light of the world." (John 9 : 
4-5.) What could be plainer? 

Undoubtedly the resurrection days were in re- 
ality intended to be interpreted spiritually. They 
certainly meant prophetic days or cycles. No 
other interpretation is possible. 

In interpreting the Christ resurrection, in spirit 
and in truth, the unalterable fact is this ; that we 
are now living in the beginning of the third Day 
or dispensation of religion or spiritual Truth from 
Christ, as follows : First, the Day of Christ ; 
Second, the Day of Mohammed (and we are fool- 
ish if we deny it) and. Third, the greatest of all 
Days, that heralded by the return of the Advancer 
Spirit of Elijah the Prophet, returning the second 
time as John the Baptist, and now the third time 
as the Bab, who announced the Day of God, which 



SYMBOLIC WORDS OF THE BIBLE 93 

was inaugurated by His Holiness, Baha' Ullah, 
the manifestation of God, in His great and divine 
station of Fatherhood, exactly as was foretold and 
described by Christ and the prophets ! Read care- 
fully Christ's famous parable of the Lord and the 
Vineyard, depicting, when rightly interpreted and 
construed, this whole matter. 

It is difficult to realize, but a fact nevertheless, 
that we are now really living in the actual time of 
the real resurrection — the return of the spirit of 
Christ with the Father^ as promised ! 

This is the early dawn of the "Day of Most 
Great Peace !" 

The gloriously divine work of this great dis- 
pensation was to be continued by the servant of 
God and of humanity, living the Christ Life ! 
From His hand is going forth "a fiery law," that 
is, the spiritual teachings of God, from whence 
Christ left off 1900 years ago, to all the world ; to 
"my sheep," those who are true and faithful and 
"know the Shepherd's voice." In Him is fulfilled 
the Christ prophecy : ^'Ye shall be known by your 
works j^' and another, this : in becoming the least 
in humility, sacrifice and servitude, He shall 
become the greatest in the Kingdom of God 
on earth ! He is the one referred to in Zech. 3 : 
8 : **For behold I will bring forth My servant the 
Branch !" Abdul Baha is *'The Greatest Branch !" 
And, <' Behold the man whose name is the Branch 
and he shall grow up out of his place and shall 
build the Temple of the Lord." (Zech. 6 : 12.) 



94 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

Verily, now, in this very time, is the reality of 
the resurrection of the manifest Word, the Christ ! 

We have been very foolish to believe in the re- 
surrection of the material, physical body. Such a 
thing is impossible. God's Laws are irrevocable, 
immutable ! Neither God nor any of His mani- 
festing servants ever have, will or can violate His 
perfect laws ! 

All progress is attained by becoming dead to 
the old and lower life and condition. The 15th. 
chapter of 1 Cor. must be interpreted spiritually, 
as Paul intended. This great Apostle declared : 
*<I die daily." 

"Emmanuel.'' See "Word." 

"Flesh." It is impossible to interpret literaly 
this word used by Christ in connection with 
"bread." It would be absurd to contemplate it 
in any other way than intended to symbolize a 
spiritual truth. It is obvious that Christ meant 
that He gave His life as an example for us to fol- 
low. If we do this we will surely be born again 
— horn of the spirit and thus inherit the kingdom 
and "live forever. ^^ There is no possible way for 
us to live forever from eating material "flesh" or 
"bread." None other than those who are thus 
born of the spirit and are able to apprehend Christ 
and His words and works according to their true 
spiritual significance, really believe in Jesus 
Christ, for to believe in reality is to understand! 

"Bread," "blood" and "flesh," when used by 



SYMBOLIC WORDS OF THE BIBLE 95 

Christ as above, certainly signify the real teach- 
ings of God's Truth. 

If we read carefully^ with a yearning, upward 
desire for the reality of Truth, verses 9-14 of the 
seventh chapter of Daniel, we will be able to per- 
ceive the true meaning of the following words to 
be as below expressed. 

' 'Fiery flame" and "fiery stream" must have been 
intended to portray the reality of spiritual truth 
or teachings promised to issue from the One who 
should come in this very time to set up the King- 
dom on earth. ''For our God is a consuming j^re." 
(Heb. 12 :29.) "For, behold the Lord (and His 
truth) will come with fire" and "for by fire and 
by His sword (vide) will the Lord plead with all 
flesh :" (aU mankind.) (Isa. 66 : 15-16.) "I in- 
deed baptize you with water unto repentance : but 
He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose 
shoes I am not worthy to bear : He shall baptize 
you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire !" (John 
the Baptist in Matt. 3 : 11.) Christ said : "I am 
come to send fire (spiritual truth) on the earth." 
(Luke 12 : 49) "Whomaketh His angels spirits, 
and His ministers a flame of fire." (Heb. 1:7.) 
"Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the 
day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire." 
(2 Peter. 3 : 12.) 

"Heaven" is not necessarily some place far off. 
In an important sense it is placeless. The word 
heaven used so often in the gospels and Old Tes- 



96 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

tament, means a condition^ — a superior, a spiritual 
condition or state. 

The Lord, speaking through His Prophet Isaiah, 
said : "For, behold I create new Heavens and a 
new earth ; and the former shall not be remem- 
bered, nor come into mind.'' (Isa. 65 : 17.) "Thus 
said the Lord, the Heaven is My throne, and the 
earth is My footstool." (66 :1.) By all of this the 
meaning appears to be, that the divine realm ever 
was, is and ever will be, the habitation, so to 
speak, of God in spiritual perfection, and that He 
has ever been giving us a higher teaching of the 
Heaven of His Truth, successively, continually as 
we have grown upward, developed, been gradually 
created unto the higher station to be able to ap- 
prehend such higher teachings. 

Let us read these words thoughtfully, seeking 
the power of keen spiritual insight : "Howbeit the 
Most High dwelleth not in temples made with 
hands ; as saith the prophet, Heaven is My throne 
and earth is My footstool : what house will ye 
build Me ? saith the Lord : or what is the place of 
my restr (Acts 7:48-9.) 

"And I saw a new Heaven and a new earth : for 
the first Heaven and the first earth were passed 
away.'' (Rev. 21:1.) This was clear prophecy of 
the passing away of the old heaven and earth — the 
old religious and material conditions and under- 
standings, and the coming of the new Truth; 
knowledge of Truth, with the perfect day of God. 



SYMBOLIC WORDS OF THE BIBLE 97 

Abdul Baha has written that Jesus Christ was on 
earth and in Heaven at the same time ! 

"Horn" also was employed as a symbol to por- 
tray the Voice of the Truth of God. 

"I beheld then because of the Voice of the great 
words which the Horn spake : I beheld even till 
the beast was slain, (the subjugation of the lower 
nature by the higher, the spiritual) and his body 
destroyed, and given to the burning flame." (Dan. 
7 : 11.) See "Trumpet." "Immanuel." See "Word," 

* 'Miracles" — Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh. 

The interpretations of Pharaoh's dream by the 
worldly wise men were called sticks (q. v.) turn- 
ing into serpents, that is to say, wise explanations ; 
but the interpretation by Moses and Aaron, men 
of God, was a rod or staff, (q. v.) signifying the 
power of the truth of God, a wisdom far greater 
than that of the worldly wise men. The devouring 
of the lesser sticks or arguments was simply this : 
the invincible, incomparable Truth and Wisdom 
of God, reflected in His prophets, naturally super- 
seded and brushed aside the foolish interpretations 
and explanations. Still our most learned Bible 
students and theologians have always given this 
symbolical story merely a literal interpretation. 

**Beign." This has reference to spiritual reign 
as well as to rulership over a worldly kingdom. 

^^Resurrection." See *'Day" — the fifth Day. 

<'Rod" and "Staff" signifies the power of the 
Truth of God; **the Divine Teachings where- 



98 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

by the Divine Shepherd will rear the sheep of 
God." (Abdul Baha Abbas.) 

"And He shall smite the earth with the Rod of 
His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall 
He slay the wicked." (Isa. 11: 4.) 

It would be absurd to take this literally ; it 
must be interpreted spiritually. Have this in 
mind when contemplating the biblical account of 
Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh. 

"Saints." True and faithful believers in God 
and His spiritual Truth, who are in the flesh and 
on earth. "But the saints of the Most High shall 
take the Kingdom and possess the Kingdom for- 
ever, even forever and ever." (Dan. 7: 18.) This 
refers to the Kingdom on earth. "And He (Baha' 
Ullah) came with ten thousands of Saints." (Deut. 
33: 2.) It will be remembered that this was the 
first time known to the world when a Manifestation 
of God came finding tens of thousands of Saints 
(believers) ready for and awaiting Him ! 

"Saviour" really means God: ''And thou shalt 
know no God but Me, for there is no Saviour be- 
side Me." (Hosea 13: 4.) 

This is thoroughly in accord with the utteran- 
ces of Christ, who declared there was none good 
but God, Who, Christ also declared, did all of the 
Works. The Christian world has erred greatly 
in worshipping the individuality of Jesus. He 
and all of the divine messengers have always 
taught the world to worship God in oneness and 
singleness ! 



SYMBOLIC WORDS OF THE BIBLE 99 

'* Sceptre." The people of the Old Testament 
expected Jesus Christ to have an iron sceptre — a 
literal one. But Sceptre in that connection in re- 
ality signified the power or office of a shepherd 
leading his sheep and is likened unto a sword, i. e. 
the sword or power of the tongue and not that of 
iron or steel. The sword divides friends and ene- 
mies, and the sword, spiritually considered, of 
the Son of Reality, is that kind of a sword which 
separates enemies from friends; divides darkness 
from light and guidance from sedition. The 
tongue which divides Truth from falsehood is lik- 
ened unto a sword. This was the meaning con- 
veyed by Christ when He declared He came not 
to bring peace but a sword ! 

''Serpent" every one knows has ever been em- 
ployed as a symbol of wisdom. 

"Stick" was a word used in ancient times to 
signify the power of explanation, description or 
argument. (Ezek. 37: 16-20.) 

"Sword," This word was used as a symbol of 
truth and justice dividing the good and the bad 
of mankind, and establishing judgment. "And 
out of His mouth went a sharp two edged Sword." 
(Rev. 1 : 16.) "And out of His mouth goeth a 
sharp Sword, that with it He should smite the na- 
tions: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron," 
(Rev. 19: 15.) 

"Trumpet." This word symbolizes the Voice 
or Truth of God, when employed in reference to 



100 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

the second coming of Christ and in many other 
places. How ridiculously absurd it has been to 
interpret this word Trumpet literally. How was 
it possible that there should or could be a material 
trumpet which could be heard throughout the 
earth? Still men of great ability have so held. 
Was not the power to exercise reason and judg-- 
ment^ and common sense given us to be employed 
rationally ? 

''I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and 
heard behind Me a great voice, as of a Trumpet, 
saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the 
Last," etc. (Rev. 1 : 10-11,) 

This not only indicates the true spiritual inter- 
pretation of the word Trumpet, but clearly refers 
to the Coming of the greatest of all manifestations 
of God, as Christ prophesied should be at some 
future time, to set up the Kingdom of God on 
earth. This only could be the reality of fulfilment 
of that great promise of the ''Lord's Day." The 
Church has misinterpreted this and other great 
promises, and, seemingly, has forgotten that, in- 
stead of Christ establishing the Kingdom of God, 
He taught us in the Lord's Prayer to pray for the 
coming of that great day I 

* 'Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last," 
could not, by any stretch of the imagination, refer 
to any one other and less than the Almighty God, 
the Most Glorious I 

In Rotherham's literal translation of Hebrews 



SYMBOLIC WORDS OF THE BIBLE 101 

(12 :19) we read, "And a Trumpet's peal, and un- 
to a sound of things spoken." This aids us better 
than does the ordinary translation, to truly inter- 
pret, spiritually, the real and intended meaning 
of the word Trumpet to signify the Voice or Truth 
of God. See '*Horn." 

* 'Water and Wine.'' *' Water" signifies God's 
Truth or spirtual teachings. ''Except a man be 
born of Water and of the spirit, he cannot enter 
the Kingdom of God.'' (John 3:5.) 

"Jesus ansAvered and said unto her. If thou 
knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith 
to thee, give Me to drink ; thou wouldst have 
asked of Him, and He would have given thee 
living water P' (John 4 : 10.) 

The alleged miracle (John 2 :1-11.) of Jesus 
turning water into wine at the marriage feast was 
a great spiritual lesson of far reaching application. 
Now is the real time of the "Marriage Feast,'' 
when the former teachings, likened unto water y 
would be turned into wine^ after three days (pro- 
phetic days or cycles) at the time of the real re- 
surrection! The more we ponder over this, the 
more certain are we that this is the Truth. 

A careful reading of the fourteenth chapter of 
Hosea, referring to the return of the people of 
Israel unto God on the Seventh Day of the world, 
clearly shows us that "Wine" was employed to 
signify a higher a more complete spiritual Truth 
or Teaching of God than was indicated by the 



102 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

other symbolic Word in this connection — '"Water." 
Hence now is the time of the real Marriage Feast 
typified by the great Christ lesson above : Now is 
the ''Third Day'' (Prophetic Day after Christ,)^ 
the time of the real "Marriage Feast !" 

The recorders of history in those days had no 
conception of the vast significance presented by 
the events they undertook to portray, for Christ 
declared : "These things have I spoken unto you 
in proverbs." (John 16 : 25.) 

"Waters," "wine," and "milk," each were used 
symbolically of the spiritual Truth of God. (Isa. 
55: 1.) 

"Whale." See "Beast." 

"Wine" clearly means the fullness of God's 
teachings, through Christ or otherwise, and is a 
higher symbol than is "Water," similarly as is 
"Staff or "Bod" a higher symbol than is the word 
"stick." (Rev. 16:19.) 

In the fifteenth chapter of St. John we have 
clear proof that "wine," the fruit of the vines, 
was employed as a symbol of growth in spirit to- 
wards the Kingdom. '^I am the true Vine and My 
Father is the Husbandman." "Ye are the branch- 
es." "Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit 
He takethaway." (Mark 14:25.) 

"Word." See chapter on "The Word." 



A LAYMAN'S SERMON TO CLERGYMEN 

THE DECADENCE OF TRUE RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE 



CHAPTER VII 




I know 
(John 



Y sheep hear My voice, and 
them, and they follow Me." 
10:27.) 
All great religious systems have 
taught that religion was of the heart and not of 
the head. 

Jesus Christ taught that the only way to attain 
was by being born again, born of the spirit, and 
that this was impossible without being simple and 
humble and possessed of a clean, pure heart. 

The great Founder of Christianity declared that 
only those who should overcome the world of sin 
could be with Him (Rev. 3 : 20-21) ; that ^'My 
Kingdom is not of this world" (John 18 : 36) ; 
That He *<came to bear witness unto the Truth. 
Everyone that is of the Truth heareth My Voice" 
(v. 37) ; that He would confess those who con- 
fessed Him (Luke 12 : 8-9) ; that whosoever was 
ashamed of Him, He would be ashamed of when 
He should come in another manifestation on the 
earth with the Father (Luke 9 : 26) ; and "Except 
ye be converted and become as little childrenye 
shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matt. 
18:3). 



104 WHENCE? VHY? WHITHER? 

There seems to be nothing equivocal in these 
words of instruction, guidance, and command. 
There is no such thing as rising to true greatness 
without first attaining unto the "heights of humil- 
ity." Yet it has been said that "our religious world: 
is a conspicuous exhibition of arrogance, ostenta- 
tious display, and pride of intellect'' on the part 
of the theological and clerical classes, as compared 
with the example of the One of whom they claim 
to be the called desciples or "ministers." These 
classes know there is no possible way to avoid the 
consequences of violation of the Christ teachings, 
for they preach such teachings themselves — to 
others. Let the searchlight and hose of truth be 
turned on the preachers as well as the world of 
mankind in general. If the cry for reform now 
comes from outside the priestly profession, it is 
not the first time. 

The spectacle presented in a western city re- 
cently, of a man of colossal nerve, who has been 
called, perhaps properly, "a clerical mountebank,'' 
pronouncing himself before thousands of approv- 
ing people as the divinely appointed of God, and 
presuming to enter into a material or worldly busi- 
ness partnership with God, may be without a 
parallel in world history. 

The recent announcement to his congregation 
by a Roman Catholic priest in a nearby city, that 
nothing less than nickels should be placed in the 
collection plates, "as the Lord did not want nor 



A LAYMAN'S SERMON TO CLERGYMEN 105 

would He receive pennies," illustrates the deplor- 
able absence of spirit in religious observance, but 
this man is not to be compared with or reckoned 
in the same "class" with the other man who juggles 
with the spiritual Truth of God, in the larger, 
more hypocritical, more spectacular way, for the 
purpose of accumulating gold, worldly power and 
renown. 

It is as true as unfortunate, that the practice of 
turning the services of our great and fashionable 
churches over to business methods, when the min- 
ister occupies the time in conducting, in familiar 
auctioneer style, a regular business campaign for 
raising funds *'for the Lord," as he says, is alto- 
gether too common, but the genuine mounte- 
bank, in his thrilling Barnum hippodrome spec- 
tacle, is of a truth, the very limit ! 

That such incidents, whether in our regular 
church fashion and practice, or by the mountebank 
par excellence plan, should be so common or so 
unsurprising as to provoke no protest, is a severe 
reflection upon the community. 

Is our time the repetition of conditions existing 
at certain and quite regular stages of world growth 
and progress, when such great nations in the past 
as Syria, Persia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc., 
have, after attaining high development in the arts 
and sciences ; after becoming in fact, mighty na- 
tions, mighty world powers, but later, and with 
comparative suddenness, met with all kinds of 
reverses, calamities and final dismemberment? 



106 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

There is something of greater scope and impor- 
tance than even the rise and fall of great nations. 
The true student of history finds that there have 
been larger, broader, more far reaching conditions 
and unfoldments, to which the successive rise and 
fall of nations is in a sense corollary, or synchron- 
ous in working out magnificent problems. In short 
we are unobservant if we have not seen that there 
have been six great world periods or divisions of 
time and accomplishment, reckoning from the 
earliestknown history to the present. Theseperiods 
or cycles, averaging about one thousand years 
each in duration, are properly enough called world 
^'days," prophetic days or religious dispensations. 

Now it is not difficult to see that toward the end 
of each of these great periods there has always 
been manifest a pronounced falling away from the 
higher and more spiritual teachings, obligations, 
and duties in an inverse ratio to the march in de- 
velopment of mere worldly achievement. It is 
the antithesis of the higher, the spiritual which 
misleads us into the false belief of development 
which is not real and true. 

The important consideration now is this : have 
not we reached, in logical order of sequence, ac- 
cording to the law of history repeating itself, 
as disclosed by the presentation of the ever 
predicating signs and conditions, exactly that 
same inevitable state immediately preceding the 
fall? Have we not all the conditions constantly 
before us ? Can we find in history a time when 



A LAYMAN'S SERMON TO CLERGYMEN 107 

Bible students and teachers were just as lack- 
ing in the power of true spiritual interpretation ? 
Was there a former time when church administra- 
tion was in such deplorable spiritual decadence and 
in the attitude of standing for literally the positive 
negation of God's Truth and Cause, as now ob- 
servable in disobedience or neglect of the spirit of 
the Christ teachings ? Do not these things show 
clearly enough that we are now in precisely the 
same state or condition , materially and intellectu- 
ally, as were the ancient nations when they 
reached the zenith of power and glory ? Is it not 
time to look for the beginning of the end — the in- 
evitable, irretrievable fall — unless we learn and 
profit from the lessons of incomparable cost of 
the past? 

Shall not there be and speedily, a re-awakening, 
a refreshing of God's pure Truth ? Must not we 
leave off mammon-worship, especially in the 
church ? What should prevent our performing the 
transformation act — changing from polytheism 
and insincerity to the worship and service of God 
in Oneness and Singleness, in spirit and in truth? 
Is it not time for the clergy, and all who assume to 
teach, to re-read carefully and prayerfully, Christ's 
matchless Sermon on the Mount, and preach it 
forth in thundering tones from pulpits, from 
everywhere ? But first shall we not learn what it 
is to be a minister of Christ? Here is the answer 
in Christ's own words : "Whosoever he be of you 
that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be 



108 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

My disciple." (Luke 14: 33.) "Whosoever shall 
be great among you, shall be your minister ; and 
whosoever of you will be the chief est, shall be ser- 
vant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to 
be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give 
His life a ransom for many." (Mark 10 : 35-45.) 
And Paul declared : "For though I be free from 
all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, 
that I might gain the more." (1 Cor. 9 : 19.) 

The Sermon on the Mount compared with our 
degenerate church, clearly shows that we, as a 
Christian church and people, are far from living 
in accord with the Christ life, works, and teach- 
ings. It is admitted that the departure from the 
true path has been so gradual, covering so many 
centuries, that there are good excuses for present 
deplorableness, but since our eyes are now open, 
let us lose no time in regaining the long lost Path. 

The church is, of course, more to blame than is 
the general public, and should lead in reform, but 
if it won't, then let there be a regeneration and 
upheaval of public opinion in the Name and service 
of God and His irrefutable, invincible, incompar- 
able Truth ! 

There is no real reform without striking at the 
root. In the matter under consideration, striking 
at the root^ is the supplanting of mere lip service 
with the actual living the life individually I The 
simple principles of the Sermon on the Mount 
must become literally a burning fire within the 
heart of ministers and all ! 



SIGNS OF THE KINGDOM 



PART III CHAPTER I 




HE signs of the Kingdom are fully 
given in the Bible. They must be in- 
terpreted according to original intent, 
— spiritually and not materially or lit- 
erally. Had the Jews adhered to the spiritual 
teachings of Moses, they would have recognized 
and accepted Jesus Christ. Had the inhabitants 
of the Christian world truly embraced and kept 
hold of the simple but imperishably grand spirit- 
ual teachings of Christ, we would have become 
by this time far more numerous and His "sheep" 
(believers) instead of "goats'' (unbelievers). 

Christ and the prophets gave the signs of the 
coming of the Kingdom of God. Let us consider 
some of them very briefly and then look at the 
proofs. 

"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor 
a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh 
come ; and unto Him shall the gathering of the 
people be." (Gen. 49 : 10.) 

"The first shall say to Zion ; behold, behold 
them, and I will give to Jerusalem one that bring- 
eth good tidings." (Isa. 41 : 27.) 

The mission of Jesus Christ was to proclaim 
the coming of the Kingdom ; "And Jesus went 
all about Galilee teaching in their synagogues and 



no WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom." (Matt. 4 : 
23.) "Now after that John was put in prison, 
Jesus came into Galillee preaching the gospel of 
the Kingdom of God." (Mark 1 : 14.) "The spirit 
of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed 
Me to preach the Gospel to the poor : He hath 
sent me to heal the broken hearted : to preach de- 
liverance to the captives and recovering of sight to 
the blind ; to set at liberty them that are bruised ; 
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." (Luke 
4 : 18-19.) "And He said unto them, I must preach 
the Kingdom of God to other cities also, for 
therefore am I sent." (Luke 4 : 43.) 

First, Christ warned us to "Take heed that no 
man deceive you" and said that before the com- 
ing of that great event "many shall come in My 
name saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive 
many." (Matt. 24: 5.) These we were to know by 
their preposterous 'claims to miraculous powers 
and wonders. We shall see that the true Messiah 
would prove His coming by His life and works 
only. By such ; by the Truth He should bring, 
He would be known by His true and faithful fol- 
lowers. 

Second, ''And ye shall hear of wars and rumors 
of wars, see that ye be not troubled ; for all these 
things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." 
And these the world has been and is now having, 
both materially and spiritually. There was .never 
a time when there was so much controversy and 



SIGNS OF THE KINGDOM 1 1 1 

unrest in religious circles. This is largely due to 
to the erroneous habit of meddling with the sealed 
words of the Bible, striving to make impossible 
harmony out of their puny literal interpretation 
and refusing obedience to the really great though 
simple divinely given commands for world guid- 
ance. 

Third, ''For nation shall rise against nation and 
kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be 
famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers 
places." The great social and industaial disturb- 
ances make, indeed, extremely troublous times 
and all is traceable to the universal disease of 
spiritual sickness. This is the natural result of 
starving the people, failure of the religious teach- 
ers to give out spiritual food, consequently the 
world is suffering from a great spiritual famine. 
But read the promised deliverance in Ezek 34 : 
11-12. 

Fourth, ''And many false brophets shall rise 
and deceive many." The multitudinous, visionary, 
false and conflicting teachings of these times fur- 
nish abundant proof of present fulfilment. There 
are now on earth many false claimants of the 
Christ and prophethood. 

Fifth, "And because iniquity shall abound, the 
love of many shall wax cold." It is noticed on 
all sides that every sort of inducement is offered 
by the preachers, but the churches remain com- 
paratively empty, or destitute of religious faith. 



112 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

The ministers are woefully lacking in spirituality 
and the true worship of God in Spirit and in 
Truth. Do not the ministers, far more than the 
congregation, need conversion? 

Sixth, "And the Gospel of the kingdom shall 
be preached in all the world for a witness unto all 
nations ; and then shall the end come. This 
prophecy of Christ has been fulfilled. 

The Gospel has been preached in all nations 
and the Bible has been translated into more than 
three hundred and sixty languages and dialects 
and circulated throughout the world ! 

Seventh, "When ye therefore shall see the 
abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel 
the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso read- 
eth, let him understand)" ; (Matt. 24 : 15). The 
abomination of desolation has many interpreta- 
tions. Suffice it here to mention the reference to 
the spiritual meaning, — that the denial of God 
and His Truth constitutes, in reality, the greatest 
abomination of desolation. There never was a 
time when there was so much farness from God, 
on the part of the world in general, as now ! It is 
time, indeed, that we "flee into the mountains" — 
'^seek the Kingdom of Heaven." Never in the 
world before was there such "great tribulation." 
It is high time indeed to seek the mountain of 
lofty attainment ! 

Eighth, "For as the lightning cometh out of 
the East, and shineth even unto the West, so shall 



SIGNS OF THE KINGDOM 113 

also the coming of the Son of Man be." It is im- 
possible to interpret this literally. The lightning 
does not come *«out of the East," but wherever 
the storm cloud bursts. The true spiritual inter- 
pretation is in order, as usual, and this is the 
meaning : — The light of God's Truth would come 
out and radiate to all prepared and receptive souls 
in the world, — from the East as it ever has ! All 
the divine messengers or prophets have appeared 
in the East, and it is to be remembered that the 
material light, — the sun, — (to us) rises in the East, 
and likewise diffuses its gladsome warmth in its 
westward course. 

Ninth, '^ Immediately after the tribulation of 
those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon 
shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall 
from Heaven, and the powers of Heaven shall be 
shaken." This means that the people have become 
deadened to the sunlight of God's spiritual Truth, 
they having drifted away into the clouds of igno- 
rance, superstition, mysticism and darkness. 

Tenth, <^And then shall appear the sign of the 
Son of Man in Heaven," etc. 

Now let us consider the prophecy of Christ as 
to His second coming in tlie flesh : 

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days 
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not 
give her light, and the stars shall fall from Heaven, 
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken : 
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man 



114 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

in heaven : and then shall all the tribes of the earth 
mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming 
in the clouds of heaven with power and great 
glory. And He shall send His angels with a great 
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together 
His elect from the four winds, from one end of 
heaven to the other." (Matt. 24 : 29-31.) 

Any one alive to the conditions and signs of 
the times during the past sixty years, knows that 
the days of the abomination that maketh desolate 
are practically ended, though the world is still 
having tribulations and will for a number of years. 
But the fact is, that Palestine, all of the Holy land, 
is being built up and beautified, and the Jews, 
the woefully punished, degraded and scattered 
people without a country, are already beginning 
to flock back to and upbuild the desolate land, 
and, what is far more, they are, in accepting the 
Great Bahai Revelation, accepting Christ and true 
Christianity — not the false church under that 
name ! 

The '<sun" refers to the religion or Truth of 
God, and the "moon" the manifestation thereof in 
and the teachings of Jesus Christ, which have be- 
come dim and far away from the lives of men, as 
evidenced by the pagan like idolatry witnessed all 
around ; conditions that ever have prevailed to- 
ward the end of a religious dispensation. The 
< 'stars" falling from heaven, mean the clergy, the 
religious guides and teachers, practically all of 



SIGNS OF THE KINGDOM 115 

whom have become diverted from the ^'heaven" 
of God's Truth. They have long since abandoned 
the reality of the simple but sufficient teachings 
of Christ, occupying themselves mainly with the 
imaginations and inventions of man in practice all 
the centuries, dating from about the fourth, and 
in always permitting intellectual persuits and hair 
splitting, invidious distinctions and argiunent to 
separate them from God and His spiritual Truth, 
which always is simple and plain to those of pure 
hearts. 

There never was such a time as now, when the 
"powers," the so called religious organizations, 
were so shaken and rudderless. 

Having in mind these words herein before con- 
sidered, and those immediately preceding, and 
carefully reading especially the three verses last 
quoted, we are able to interpret the wonderful 
words of prophecy in a substantially correct man- 
ner as follows : 

Christ, the Manifestation of the Word in the 
station of the Sonship of God, was to appear on 
earth in human form, as before, but in the heaven, 
i. e., the spiritual Truth of God, and God Him- 
self, His Manifestation of the Father Station, for 
none other could be "Power and Great Glory" 
for Christ to so designate. This spirit of Christ 
was to come at the right hand of Power and Great 
Glory (God) and was to show the world of man- 
kind unto the Father, (God Himself the Lord of 



116 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

the Vineyard — the Kingdom Christ taught us to 
pray for in the Lord's Prayer). 

Sending His angels meant the true and faithful 
believers on the earth at this time of His second 
coming, and these were to spread His teachings of 
Divine Truth throughout the world, to bring to- 
gether those of all nations and faiths, into one 
faith and belief ; one Brotherhood of man under 
the Fatherhood of God in oneness and singleness ! 
And this is being done. 

We have seen that <*Trumpet" means the Voice 
or Truth of God (Rev. 1 : 10,) and this it is which 
is bringing the faithful, ''My sheep," ''the elect" 
together, as no former Revelation of God's Re- 
ligion has done "since the foundation of the 
world." None save those would know the Shep- 
herd's Voice (God's Truth at this time) when He 
came, would recognize it, Christ declared, and 
no others, of course, would respond. 

It will be seen that all of this great prophecy of 
Christ is being fulfilled. His great parable of 
the tares applies to these times. Those who do 
not recognize and respond to the call of the divine 
Shepherd in these days, are most unfortunate, but 
naturally they do not know it, for they are the 
"goats" the unbelievers, or in the other words of 
Christ, the "tares" which are being separated from 
the "wheat," "sheep" or believers, and burned 
/"more spiritually than literally). 

The Apostle Paul declared (1 Thes. 4: 14-17) 



SIGNS OF THE KINGDOM 117 

*«For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, 
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God 
bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the 
word of the Lord, that we which are alive (spirit- 
ualy) and remain unto the coming of the Lord 
shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the 
Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a 
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with 
the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise 
first : then we which are alive and remain shall be 
caught up together with them in the clouds, to 
meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we ever be 
with the Lord." 

This clearly means to the true believers, they 
will be with God and His Christ in the human 
bodies (clouds) in the Kingdom of God on earth, 
to meet the Lord in the atmosphere of His Love 
and Truth ! It is very simple. It is true. 

Again Paul said, (1 Tim. 3 : 16). **God was 
manifest in the flesh" ; and in Hebrews 12 : 22-23 
(Rotherham). What a glorious prophecy of this 
day of the Lord— < 'But ye have approached Zion's 
mountain, and unto a city of a living God, a 
heavenly Jerusalem, and unto myriads of mes- 
sengers in high festival and unto an assembly of 
first born ones." (Believers in this time.) 



THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH 



CHAPTEB n 




OMING in the glory of His Father" 
fully refers to this Day. (Matt. 16 : 27.) 
Coming in His own glory and of His 
Father's, (Luke 9 : 26). 

''No man can come to Me, except the Father 
Who hath sent Me draw him." (John 6 : 44.) 

Christ fully foretells the coming of His Father 
(God) for He spoke of the Comforter to come as 
''Hiw:' — not it, etc. etc, (John 16 : 7-16). "Sanc- 
tify them through Thy Truth; Thy Word is 
Truth." (John 17 : 17.) '*0 righteous Father, 
the world hath not known Thee" : etc. (John 17: 
25.) ''. . . that I should bear witness unto the 
Truth. Every one that is of the Truth heareth 
My voice." (John 18: 37.) 

Christ said He desired to eat ''this passover 
with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I 
will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled 
in the Kingdom of God." (Luke 22: 15-16.) "For 
I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of 
the vine, until the Kingdom of God shall come." 
(Luke 22:18.) 

In this greatest period (day of God or sev- 
enth world day or cycle) there are three manifes- 
tations, the Bab, the blessed perfection, Baha' 
Ullah (Glory be to Him) and Abdul Baha. 



THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ON EARTH 119 

**We are all the servants of the threshold of 
Baha, and the one who serves the most in His 
Holy Threshold is the most beloved. My greatest 
wish and desire is submissiveness and servitude at 
His Holy Threshold. My name, Abdul Baha, 
means the servant of God ; my heart is the servant 
of Baha, and my spirit is the servant of Baha, and 
rejoices only in His name. My purpose is love, 
not only by word, but by action. 

"The essence of all essences is love, which is 
likened unto the meat of the nut, while all else is 
likened unto the shell or outside. Through the 
providence of the Blessed Perfection our spirits 
must be full of the love of God. Therefore, any- 
one who asks you about me should be told that 1 
am the servant of Baha, because this is my only 
wish 

"It is stated in the New Testament that Jesus 
Christ was once drinking of the fruit of the vine 
(juice of grapes) and said He would drink no 
more except in the presence of the Father. This 
means that the spirit needs food for strength as 
well as the body. The appearance of the holy 
manifestations is for the purpose of causing the 
Heavenly Tables to desend. This Table means 
the divine virtues and characteristics, and is the 
means of strengthening the spirit and life. There- 
iore we i^fpe that as this Heavenly Table has de- 
scended from the Kingdom of Abha in this mar- 
velous period, the believers and friends of God 
will have a great portion of it, so that they will 



120 WHENCE? VHY? WHITHER? 

be the cause of eternal life and the means of en- 
lightening the hearts of the people of the world. 

"In short, I hope you will ask God to bless you 
as being the real sons of the Kingdom, because 
the sons of the Kingdom are of two kinds. One 
is the real son and the other the material one. 
Judas Iscariot and Peter were both sons of the 
Kingdom. But Peter was the real son. Judas 
was the material son, consequently he was de- 
prived. The real sons of the Kingdom are those 
souls who act according to the instruction and 
teachings of Baha' Ullah, (The Glory of God) the 
Blessed Perfection. They are drunken with the 
cup of Providence and are illuminated by the Di- 
vine Light. They are honored by all their per- 
fections and virtues of humanity, and are charac- 
terized with the attributes which embellish the 
essence of man in such a manner that all people, 
even the enemies, testify of their good actions, 
attractions, separations from the world, purity, 
sanctity, knowledge and belief." (Abdul Baha 
Abbas to two young men from America in 1901,) 

In every great age of the world, marked by suc- 
cessive revelations of religion for the instruction 
and guidance of mankind, there have been varia- 
tions in names, teachings and general conditions. 
Each dispensation has had its particular name for 
the Creator, its differing mode of announcement, 
its special and ever increasing knowledge of God's 
Truth in keeping with the gradual, slow perhaps. 



THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ON EARTH 121 

but constant and inexorable development and pro- 
gress of the world of mankind. 

The sacred books of all revelations agree in 
promising the coming of the "Day of God," and, 
(quoting from Mirza AbulFazdl, the noted scholar 
and writer of philosophy and religion) : "Fore- 
shadow the arrival of the hour wherein the face 
of God will be manifested." .... "The essence 
of all that is recorded concerning these great 
teachings is this : that when oppression and tyran- 
ny prevail throughout the world ; when distress 
and tribulations are intensified among the nations ; 
when divergences of religions and creeds become 
grave and widespread, and the heaven of worship 
of the Merciful God is riven and overthrown ; 
when the greed of souls grows fierce and violates 
man and property ; when terrors and adversi- 
ties prevail, at that time the divine Herald will 
arise, the holy, heavenly Spirit will descend, an- 
nouncing the coming of the manifestation of the 
promised Lord, proclaiming the approach of the 
Dawn of the Orb of His Glorious Beauty ! Then 
will the faith be made plain, hearts brought nigh 
unto God, breasts healed, griefs dispelled and 
tears wiped away. Then will the glorious Lord 
arise and utter a call which shall shake the pillars 
of this lofty edifice. He will cry out in a voice 
which shall fill the expanse of the world and sum- 
mon all nations of the earth, both East and West, 
to God, the Mighty, the Glorious ! Then will He 



12 2 WHENCE? VHY? WHITHER? 

institute for them new laws, and trace out for 
them a new, a plain, a direct path! And after the 
setting of the sun of His beauty, the breeze of His 
presence being hushed, the glorious branch ex- 
tended from the Tree of His essence will arise 
(Abdul Baha) ; the dawning morn will shine from 
the horizon of the heaven of His bounty, diffus- 
ing the light of His religion, establishing the 
temple of His worship, and sitting upon the throne 
of His glory ! His holy word will penetrate all 
regions until the saying be fulfilled : ' The earth 
will be illuminated with the light of its Lord, in 
the day of judgment.' " 

Sevei-al millions of people (but how few when 
compared with the population of the world) al- 
ready know that in this very time is the fulfilment 
of the great promise of Christ in His remarkable 
parable of the lord and the vineyard, or the wicked 
husbandmen, as to the literal coming of the Lord 
of the Vineyard Himself ! and that Baha' UUah 
(the manifestation of God the most Glorious) 
was that fulfilment ! 

We are now actually living in the early dawn 
of the "Day of the Most Great Peace," the seventh 
cycle or world day, prophetic day, religious dis- 
pensation, the millennium, the day of the Father ! 
It will require some time, naturally enough, be- 
fore we shall be able to grasp the full significance, 
the greatness, the reality of this time ! We should 
thank God that we were priviledged to be here 



THE KING DOM OF HEAVEN ON EARTH 123 

now, and pray that we fully apprehend and ap- 
preciate. 

Ministers preach of Christ's sheep being the 
true believers in God and His Christ, but they do 
not seem to understand that the Christ is the 
Word or Spirit manifested in His messengers, not 
simply Jesus ; and they woefully fail in learning 
that great lesson from Christ as to "my sheep 
knowing the shepherd's voice," for they do not 
respond to the very loudly calling voice of the 
Truth of God, now, in this very time of the sec- 
ond coming ! 

If we believe in Christ, we must believe His 
words, and believing His words, we must recog- 
nize His call, now, in the Kingdom not made with 
hands, but already established on earth I It is im- 
possible to be a real Christian without being of 
the Truth and knowing of the Kingdom on earth.. 

The proofs of the Kingdom are found in Deut, 
33 : 2 ; Isaiah 9:6-7; Daniel, chapters 7, 8, 9, 
12 ; Hosea 2 : 15 ; Ezek. 37 : 21 ; Jer. 23 : 3 ; 
John 16 :7-16 ; John 16 : 25 ; the book of Reve- 
lation and in many other places fully enumerated 
hereinafter. 

Read the following words of the Manifestation 
of God, Baha' Ullah, taken from His famous letter 
to the Shah of Persia, delivered by Badi the mes- 
senger, who was frightfully tortured and murdered 
for performing that service : 

"O king, verily I was as any one amongst man- 



124 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

kind, slumbering upon my couch. The gales of 
the All Glorious passed by me and taught me the 
knowledge of what hath been. This thing is not 
from wie, but from One Who is mighty and alK 
knowing. This (Himself) is a leaf which the 
breezes of the will of thy Lord, the Mighty, the 
Extolled, have stirred.'' 

"For that peerless King (the Infinite) is holy 
for everlasting, above ascent or descent." 

It will be noticed that all of the prophets and 
messengers of God have appeared in the East — 
Abraham, Moses, Christy Mohammed, The Bab, 
Baha' UUah and Abdul Baha Abbas. The Sun 
rising in the East is the Symbol. 



CHRIST'S RATIFICATION AND 
CONFIRMATION OF ALL PROPHETS 



CHAPTER III 




|HE ratification and confirmation of the 
words of prophecy of Moses, David, 
Daniel and all of the prophets by Christ. 
yi "And beginning at Moses and all the 
prophets. He expounded unto them in all the 
scriptures the things concerning Himself." (See 
24:27.) "All things must be fulfilled which 
were written in the law of Moses, and in the 
Prophets and in the Psalms concerning Me." (v. 
44.) "It is written in the Prophets, And they 
shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore 
that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, 
cometh unto Me." (John 6 : 45.) "That the 
scripture might be fulfilled." (John 17: 12.) "But 
when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, 
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, etc." (Mark 
13 : 14.) "Have ye not read in the book of Moses, 
how in the bush God spake unto him, saying : ' I 
am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and 
the God of Jacob V " (Mark 12 : 26.) 



JONAH AND THE WHALE 



CHAPTEB IV 




IRACLES and mysteries are not al- 
ways as formidable, senseless or pur- 
poseless as generally believed. 

Making fairy tales of great Biblical 
stories and lessons is no longer satisfying, especi- 
ally when such seem to violate law, fact and 
reason . It is no longer necessary, — indeed there 
is no excuse for fairy tales or mysticism. It is 
astonishingly easy to reduce many of the ancient 
fables to practical, common-sense fact. When 
I'ightly understood the Bible is no purveyor of 
jokes, foolishness, the impossible, or that which 
is in any way inconsistent with or controverts the 
truth of scientific fact. Let us take for our pres- 
ent consideration a grossly misinterpreted and 
misunderstood story — that of Jonah and the 
whale. 

Doubtless there are some who may think it a 
pity to puncture this threadbare gas-bag myth — 
for such it has amounted to as hitherto interpreted 
and understood — but there comes a time when 
our little or big fancies and imaginations must be 
put aside ; a time when the child must receive the 
real truth, say, respecting Santa Claus, sad though 
the awakening may be. As with the growing and 
developing child individuality, so with the race 



JONAH AND THE WHALE 127 

of mankind in general. Are we to go on in igno- 
rant bliss forever with our eyes and ears closed 
to Truth? No indeed. The Truth is for us ; we 
are made for it, and we must have it. 

Instead of this Jonah account being a vulgar, 
impossible << miracle," it is in very fact a grand, 
a glorious spiritual lesson, and it is not limited to 
place or time, but Avas and is for universal appli- 
cation for all mankind and all time. 

The world has been wrong all these years, cen- 
turies, ages : that is, mistaken in its literal rather 
than spiritual interpretation of the allegory, par- 
able, symbol, sign and outward form expression 
of the Bible. It is manifest error to either con- 
template the great spiritual teachings of the Bible 
as fantastic fairy tales, or to interpret them in 
mere literal, limited mechanical accuracy ( ?) of 
detail. 

There are many proofs in the Bible that the 
greatest teachings were recorded in something 
other than mere words of any language. The 
twelfth chapter of Daniel is sufficient for the 
present. There the edict was issued to mankind 
that the real Truth was concealed for a certain 
time, the date of which is given in that same book 
of Daniel. Much later than the time of the 
prophet Daniel, Jesus Christ declared: *' These 
things have I spoken unto you in proverbs; but 
the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto 
you in proverbs'' I (John 16:25.) The Genesis 



128 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

account of creation is wonderful symbolic proph- 
ecy, and the same is true of the most marvellous 
of all books, Revelation of Christ through St. 
John, which is almost wholly written in magnifi- 
cent symbology. The reason is now plainly ob- 
vious : words of all languages are subject to 
change and perversion of original, inherent mean- 
ing, while certain symbols are not in any like 
sense subject to such change and loss of signifi- 
cance. For instance, ''rod" and ''staff" and 
" trumpet " were symbols employed to denote 
the voice of the Truth of God ! (Isa. 11:4; Rev. 
1 : 10 ; 4: 1 ; 11 : 12, 15) and "serpent" has from 
time immemorial been employed as a symbol of 
wisdom, as is very well known. 

Regarding this illustrious ' ' Jonah and the 
whale " story, enough is known to make it abso- 
lutely certain that it is rendered in symbolism and 
there is already known that which suflSciently 
proves the wonderful spiritual character of the 
alleged " miracle.'' While it is not here claimed 
that full knowledge of the reality of significance 
therein portrayed is reduced to known fact, there 
is enough known to make good the present gen- 
eral contention. In the light of this understand- 
ing of the Truth, strange indeed seems the long 
accepted theory that the whale or any other fish 
actually did swallow the prophet Jonah, and more 
strange the confident belief that a man did live or 
could have lived in the belly of a whale or any 



JONAH AND THE WHALE 129 

animal three days and come out alive ! Really 
the converse of the story is not much more un- 
reasonable ; that is, that the man Jonah himself 
swallowed the whale I At all events more fish 
have been eaten by men, than men have been eaten 
by fish. 

Before proceeding with the explanation of this 
Jonah story let us consider a few general ques- 
tions preliminary to and necessary and important 
for a correct understanding of this and other Bib- 
lical stories. 

The church world, if not familiar with the real- 
ity of truth contained therein, has certainly been 
right in regarding this Jonah story religiously, 
sacredly. Of a truth it contains and is the expo- 
nent of a great spiritual lesson — a divine teach- 
ing and warning to the world for all time. While 
the church cannot be blamed for its inability, 
heretofore, to interpret and promulgate the real 
truth of the story, it may not be so readily ex- 
cused for failing to recognize this, that the fol- 
lowing facts are clearly shown in the Bible itself: 

1. That its greatest and most important les- 
sons of Divine Instruction, from Genesis to Rev- 
elation, from Alpha to Omega, for the guidance 
of the world of mankind, are contained, concealed, 
veiled within symbol, allegory, parable, sign and 
form, the most important part of which was and 
is prophecy, 

2. That such concealed, hidden meanings were 



130 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

not to be disclosed, made plain and understood 
until a certain specified time, the date of which is 
positively and accurately given in the Bible. 

3. That, according to Christ, on the culmina- 
tion of that period of time, all the mysteries were 
to be cleared up, the full explanations made, the 
real Truth given by ** the Spirit of Truth,'' 
namely. The Lord of the Vineyard, God Him- 
self ! 

4. That *'No man in heaven, nor in earth, 
neither under the earth was (would be at that 
time) able to open the Book, neither to look 
thereon" (understand Rev. 5:3), that is to say, 
no human being would know how or be able to 
give the true explanations, but there would be 
One, namely, The Greatest of all Manifestations 
of God, who would explain the reality of Truth 
of the Book (Religion — Revealed word of God), 
not only our Bible, but the Bibles or Revelations 
and teachings of all the seven great religious sys- 
tems of the world, as stated. 

5. That the world was clearly notified in our 
Bible that we were not to try our own human in- 
terpretations, but must be governed in the mean- 
time by such rules of action as are contained in 
'* The Sermon on the Mount," so as to be ready 
for The Kingdom on earth Christ taught of and 
came to prepare the world for. 

Notwithstanding all of these self-evident factfl, 
mankind has disobediently presumed to interpret 



JONAH AND THE WHALE 131 

and declare for itself, through the theologians, 
commentators and clergy, with the result that the 
world is full of conflicting ideas and theories and 
disagreeing and warring religious systems, sects, 
denominations and factions. 

Therefore, the consequence of all these wilfully 
deliberate and disobedient actions of God's child- 
ren, is seen and will be more clearly seen here- 
after, in the unwarranted and false creed and dog- 
ma of various degrees and descriptions, and in the 
very erroneous and inadequate treatment of such 
great questions as atonement, trinity, resurrection, 
baptism, creation, Noah and the flood, Jonah and 
the whale, etc. 

"The Church'% as now constituted, not only of 
Christianity, but all religious systems, having dis- 
regarded heavenly commands and become deterior- 
ated, must retrace its steps; must return from 
error to the very foundation teachings, for all 
original revelation is in perfect accord and agree- 
ment on essentials. There is no other way than 
to obey God and His Word. 

Begging the reader's pardon for being so long 
in coming to the point of the Jonah and whale ex- 
planation, a digression seemingly necessary, and 
it is hoped, not uninteresting, let us now try to 
come to the subject in hand. 

We read in the Book of Jonah that he, the 
prophet, was commanded by God to go to Nineveh 
and warn the people because of their wickedness, 



132 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

sin and disobedience toward God ; that Jonah, in 
stead of obeying, fled, taking ship at Jaffa for Tar- 
shish ; that a great storm arose and finally that those 
of the ship ''took up Jonah and cast him forth into 
the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. . . . 
Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow 
up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish 
three days and three nights" ; that in answer to 
Jonah's repentance and prayers, "The Lord spake 
unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon dry 
land." Then Jonah went on his way to Nineveh 
to perform his mission as he had been commanded 
to do. 

It has often been argued, with more or less de- 
monstrated proof, the physical impossibility of a 
fish or whale swallowing a man, or of a man liv- 
ing three days inside of the fish. 

A word regarding "miracles," concerning which 
ideas are generally hazy to say the least. Without 
denying the possibility of "miracles" it is in order 
to remark that anything beyond our comprehen- 
sion is to us a "miracle." But this general propo- 
sition is quite safe ; that God, Who is Perfection, 
has never violated, nor can He violate perfect 
law, over which He presides ! Most assuredly 
there are laws and principles far above and beyond 
present human knowledge, but it is now clearly 
evident that in most accounts of Biblical miracle 
were contained spiritual and grand lessons of 
prophecy concerning things to come. 



JONAH AND THE WHALE 133 

Here is one very simple explanation of the 
Jonah incident, and a more rational and better 
one, it must be admitted, than the old literal swal- 
lowing affair. In those old days wicked tyranni- 
cal rulers were often referred to as "beasts" and 
as "whales'' (Dan. 7:17; Ezek. 32 ; 2) and it was 
a well known fact that a prison or jail was called 
the "belly" of that brutal king, governor or ruler. 
There are days of five different durations in the 
Bible. In this Jonah account it is obvious that 
the "day'' in question is the "day for a year" (Num. 
14 : 34 ; Ezek. 4:6.) Now then, how very simple. 
The cruel ruler ("whale") clapped the prophet 
Jonah into his prison ("belly") where he was 
allowed to languish three years ("Days"). Then, 
on being released, Jonah proceeded on his mission 
to Nineveh. 

While the foregoing elucidation is, as must be 
allowed, a far more reasonable view of the matter 
than the long accepted literal swallowing idea, it 
is by no means the really true and complete de- 
ciphering of the significant code language. If, 
as we trust, we are able to grasp something of the 
reality of things spiritual, that is. Truth, in the 
highest sense, we will perceive in the following 
interpretation and explanation, that which is of a 
nature to satisfy both the rational intellect and the 
spiritual consciousness or aspiration, awake or 
slumbering in every soul, also the reason, judg- 
ment and common-sense. 



134 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

In his book "Sacred Mysteries," Mirza Assad 
'Ullah, of Nur, near Teheran, Persia, gives the 
following beautiful and rational " Explanation of 
the Mystery of Jonah " : 

" Let it be known that the story of Jonah in 
the Bible is one which has many spiritual mean- 
ings, and which cannot be interpreted literally. 
In it are contained symbols concerning the states 
of the traveler toward God in his journey from 
the world of nature to the divine world. A por- 
tion of the explanation of these symbols was men- 
tioned in the instructions regarding the early 
chapters of Genesis. It is a method of all the 
manifestations, the prophets of God, to explain 
the spiritual facts by material parables, so that 
such may be a universal bounty. The people of 
Truth perceive the spiritual meanings thereof, 
while others are satisfied with the outward appear- 
ance of the relations. Every one partakes ac- 
cording to his capacity. 

" By Jonah is meant the human spirit ; by the 
three days are signified three different states or 
kingdoms, as those of the vegetable, animal and 
human. After spending three days (periods) in 
these different conditions, the spirit may reach 
the station of the " Kingdom '' and be freed from 
the limitations of the lower kingdoms. 

" In one of the blessed Tablets revealed by His 
Highness Abdul Baha to a believer in Persia, 
whose name was Jonah, and written in the year 



JONAH AND THE WHALE 135 

1893, he gives, in eloquent words, the following 
explanation of the parable of Jonah : 

< He is El'Abha I O thou fish of the fathom- 
less ocean ! As His Highness Jonah (upon him 
be peace I) became familiar with the interior of the 
' great fish ' of nature and its elements, and suf- 
fered from the darkness of the depths of the sea 
of the world, so he was separated from the world 
of the kingdom of existence where are the lights 
of the placeless, and became a dweller in the 
world of place. Therefore the real meaning of 
Jonah is his reality (the essence of man) ; the fish 
is the corporeal body, the human temple and his 
outward form ; the sea is the contingent world 
and the natural dark qualities. As he was cast 
into this narrow and dark condition, he cried out 
from the bottom of his heart : ' O Thou Holy 
Being ! Verily I repent unto Thee ! ' (This 
caused him to be saved). 

' Thus, thou also, as thou art cast into the 
depths of the sea, supplicate and beseech to God, 
so that thou mayest draw nigh unto the shore of 
safety and enter the shade of the Blessed Tree, 
which is the comfort of the heart and the rest of 
the soul.'" 

In plain terms. Man, the individual, when born 
into this world, is totally unconscious, or tanta- 
mount to that. From that state he has to grow, 
be taught, developed and unfolded, onward and 
upward progressively through successive degrees 



136 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

and stages, from that infant unconsciousness, blank 
ignorance, to a complete manifestation in (1) the 
Physical ; (2) the Mental ; (3) the Moral or Ethical, 
and (4) the highest, the Spiritual. 

Now in applying this idea, the truth, to the 
human family concrete, in its progressive growth 
and development, and in accordance with the fore- 
going quoted words, let it be known that "Jonah" 
(meaning the spirit or essence of man^ — his real 
life) has to work up through, (1) the mineral and 
vegetable condition ; (2) the animal ; and (3) the 
human, before the real man, the spiritual and true 
man is born and become a fact ! 

The more we study and ponder over this Jonah 
lesson, the more we will become conscious of the 
richness, the grandeur of the message it brings 
to us. 

The lesson of lessons is this : seek to become 
like a little child — in meekness, purity, simplicity, 
honesty, love, faith, unselfishness ; in other words, 
become characterized with the characteristics of 
Jesus Christ, as the way, the only way to be par- 
ticipants in the Love, Truth and Knowledge of 
God ! It is a royal road, the only royal road. It is 
simple, but difficult. But it brings its own re- 
wards far surpassing any other thing. 



A SUPERFICIAL BIBLE STUDENT 



CHAPTER V 




LEADING New York daily recently 
published a communication, signed 
"Bible Student," rigorously criticis- 
ing and denouncing the Presbyterian 
Church, which, it was alleged, is at variance with 
the plain teachings of the Bible. We will, as an 
object lesson^ and after making all due apologies, 
undertake to criticise the critic, who shows him- 
self as peculiarly shallow and mistaken in Bible 
interpretation as is the church he so rather venom- 
ously assails. 

That critic says : "A church which does not 
teach all things whatsoever Christ taught is not 
Christ's church ; those who belong to it do not be- 
long to Christ, and unless they believe all things 
He taught and are baptized — i. e. initiated into 
His Church — they will be as heathens and public- 
ans to Christ and will be condemned by Christ." 
This critic is all wrong, but if right his words are 
fully as applicable to himself as to the particular 
branch of the church he is so strenuously denounc- 
ing. He, as well as that church, indeed all 
churches, it is clearly apparent, ignores one of the 
most important and plainest of Biblical mandates, 
ratified and confirmed by Christ, declaring that 
no human being was or would be able to interpret 



138 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

and explain the real Truth and Perfect Harmony 
of the Bible ! One who does not know this, also 
that Christ clearly and positively described who 
would reveal such explanations, and the exact tinae 
when, and manner thereof, is, it may be assumed, 
scarcel}^ worthy to be regarded as a profound 
''Bible student," and most assuredly not compe- 
tent to propound such positive dictums as char- 
acterize his communication. His points are taken 
in order and briefly considered as follows : 

1. He claims to be a -"Bible Student" of a 
''trained and educated mind," but this claim is re- 
futed by the foregoing and by that which follows, 

2. He declares "Christ was God." A great 
error. For such a statement the Bible furnishes 
no warrant whatever. On the contrary Christ de- 
clares, in rebuking a certain ruler who merely 
called Him "Good Master," "Why callest thou 
Me good? none is good, save One, that is God !" 
Furthermore Christ in all His sublime teachings 
invariably conveyed the true idea that He but rep- 
resented and did the Works of Him, the Great 
and One God^ Who sent Him, Jesus Christ! In 
all of His matchless and parabolic and prophetic 
utterances this was clearly manifest and He said : 
"When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and 
when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father 
which is in secret." 

A fair and adequate deduction from the life, 
works and utterances of Jesus Christ makes it 



A SUPERFICIAL BIBLE STUDENT 139 

certain that the "Christ" in the man "Jesus" of 
Nazareth, was the manifestation, the reflection of 
the sonship spirit of and from the Father as a 
manifestation, ambassador, servant, prophet of 
God, as a divine educator for the one and entire 
race of mankind, that is, "the Word (will and 
love of God) made flesh." (See first ch. of John.) 
In man}^ places in the Bible it is positively de- 
clared through inspired prophets that God Him- 
self is the onlv Saviour! In Deut. 18:18 it is 
prophesied by Moses, the greatest scholars hold, 
that God would raise up another prophet like unto 
Moses. This was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Not 
only must "Bible Student" and the church learn 
to distinguish between the one great God and His 
prophets and messengers, but they must also learn 
to differentiate between "Jesus" and "Christ." 
And what church does this ? 

3. He says: "Christ founded the church.^' 
Very true, but not as generally understood. None 
of the existing "churches" or branches thereof 
come anywhere near representing what He found- 
ed. In declaring that He would build His Church 
upon Peter the rock, Christ really meant nothing 
other or less than the faith and spirituality stood 
for by Peter, who alone originally apprehended 
and declared the Christ of God ! The church was 
not in any sense intended to be founded or based 
upon man-made doctrine, imaginings or invent- 
ion, but upon the Sermon on the Mount, which 



140 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

embraces the immortal lessons to His disciples and 
to the world for all time concerning servitude, 
humility, true ministers, sacrifice, unselfisness 
and becoming as a little child as the only way to 
be of the Kingdom. 

4. The critic continues : *' Christ preached and 
taught a set form of creed and commissioned His 
church to teach that same to all peoples." Very 
good, but that * 'creed" was the principles just re- 
ferred to, and noty a thousand times not the false 
inventions of a wicked priest-craft, set forth in 
their senseless and blasphemous and false doctrines 
of belief and church law in ''vicarious atonement," 
''trinity," * 'immaculate conception (of the mere 
human or physical body)," "indulgence selling," 
salvation by simply joining the material church, 
the forgiveness of sin by man in place of God, 
etc., etc. 

5. "Christ obliges every man to believe all 
these things," he says. Yes, exactly, the things 
He taught, as stated, but not the nonsense of a 
spiritless church. Christian in name only! The 
so-called church of Christ has wholly lost the 
spirit of the Christ teachings. It does not even 
know, or at least, manifest the true idea, the 
grand principle of baptism. While fighting 
among themselves over foolish contentions on the 
material "water" symbol and the mere detail of 
immersion or sprinkling, the magnificent fact of 
the three baptisms, water, spirit, and fire, plainly 



A SUPERFICIAL BIBLE STUDENT 141 

exemplified by Christ in the gospels, are entirely 
lost. Yet how simple ; first : the baptism of 
water, signifying teachings of God's Truth ; 
second : the baptism of spirit, meaning that hav- 
ing heard those teachings, now believing, accept- 
ing and having Faith with a determination to do 
worksy then one has the baptism of the spirit ; 
third : the baptism of fire — the fiery trial and 
test with every pilgrim in the path of God where- 
in he is beset with temptation and must continu- 
ally meet and overcome obstacles — overcome ^elf 
and the world — in order to attain unto God and 
His Truth, the destined purpose of man, and as 
illustrated in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and in 
Wagner's Parsifal, yea, far better, in the life and 
example of Jesus Christ. We repeat, Christ did 
not establish a false church, He founded the Truth, 
as did Abraham and Moses previously, for the 
Truth of God is one and the same yesterday, to- 
day and forever I But man has repeatedly and 
continuously erred and fell from grace. 

6. He speaks of "faith'' as "the one all im- 
portant condition of belonging to the church of 
Christ and of salvation." Faith is important, but 
it is equally true as to "works." Faith without 
works is nothing. (Jas. 2: 17.) True belief, 
true faith is in reality the actual living of the life, 
in emulation of that of Christ — and nothing short 
of that. How wicked of the church to deceive 
and mislead the people. 



142 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

7. This quondam critic says : " The intellect 
is the noblest part of man " ! He is all wrong 
again, and continually wrong. It is self-evident 
that man embraces four kingdoms or stations in 
serial and orderly growth and development, as 
elsewhere in this book discussed, and it is clearly 
seen that the mental or intellectual is next to the 
lowest in the scale, and that man is not in reality 
created until he becomes spiritually unfolded or 
born as Christ declared. God is Spirit, the Bible 
declares, and that man is made — to be made — in 
the image and likeness of God, hence man is not 
created until he becomes spiritual and like unto 
God. 

The critic concludes by saying: "A church that 
does not teach all things whatsoever Christ taught 
is not Christ's church : those who belong to it do 
not belong to Christ, and unless they believe all 
things He taught and are baptized — i. e., initiated 
into His church they will be as heathens and pub- 
licans to Christ and will be condemned by Christ" ! 
This is repeated by way of emphasis. What a 
sad state of conditions, and the spiritually dead 
and wicked church is wholly responsible ! It is 
repetition of history. The Jews were the same 
in their treatment of Christ and the Truth nine- 
teen centuries ago. 

The fault is practically the same with the Hin- 
dus, Zorastrians, Mohammedans and all religious 
systems. Human nature, human frailties are 



A SUPERFICIAL BIBLE STUDENT 143 

about the same the world over. The time has 
arrived, however, for the refreshing of God's 
eternal Truth and the restoration thereof in the 
hearts of people, all the people of the whole 
world, presaging a speedy, rapid and continuous 
uniting and amalgamating of all mankind into 
one vast Brotherhood under the Fatherhood of God 
in Oneness and Singleness! 

In conclusion then, there is no such thing as 
true faith or belief unaccompanied with the new 
birth; becoming as a little child, possessing its 
pure characteristics, as plainly indicated by Christ. 
He was never the author or founder of the Pres- 
byterian, Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, Roman 
or Greek or other modern "church," that is to say, 
club I He was a Spirit and He founded the 
Spirit of Truth ior the hearts of mankind/ 



THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE* 

HON. ANDREW D. WHITE REVIEWED AND CORRECTED 



PART IV CHAPTER I 



N a recent address to the students of 
Cornell University b}^ its former Pres- 
ident, Andrew D. White, some good 
and true sayings were voiced — ^^and 
some which, it seems, require more or less critical 
consideration. 

If the published reports are correct, the learned 
educator described the downfall of most of the 




* This and the following chapters, indeed the purpose of 
the book, is to emphasize the idea that true Biblical and relig- 
ious interpretation contemplates going back of the outward 
form of the letter, symbol, allegory, parable and revelation, 
and deriving the true inner significance, the true spiritual 
meaning. Furthermore the aim is to show that the work for 
the true, real solution of the problems here treated, in fact all 
great problems, must necessarily be of that character which 
shall be directed, successfully directed, to the very root or 
basic foundation of the question. The subjects treated here, 
though at first thought seeming apparently of a diverse nature, 
yet it is believed the reader will find that In all there is run- 
ning and underlying an inner basic center of cohesive har- 
mony which is in reality quite universal. If the same or simi- 
lar ideas, forms, or illustrations are directed towards the 
solution of different problems or questions over which hither- 
to variance of opinion and controversy have existed from time 
immemorial, it is because, first, it is believed they are worthy 
and important in the way of emphasis, and second, because 
in reality as there is but oke source of knowledge, so also 
there is but one real and true remedy for the ills of mankind ! 



THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 145 

world's republics and then raised the question 
"why the United States should not meet the same 
fate.'' He said : ''You will say we believe in the 
people : the voice of the people is the Voice of 
God. Let us look at some of the simplest utter- 
ances of the voice of the people in history. Nero 
was popular in Rome. Philip II., that monster, 
was no less popular in Spain. Louis XV., the 
worst king thinkable, was called the 'Well-be- 
loved.' Andrew Jackson, the most dangerous 
chief magistrate we have ever had — a man who 
debauched the civil service, almost an autocrat — 
was one of the most popular presidents w^e have 
ever had. The voice of the people massacred the 
people in the Middle Ages ; greeted the murder of 
Christians and the Inquisition with applaus-e. The 
voice of the people crucified Jesus. But you will 
say, 'They were illiterate, badly educated.' And 
there you are right. All other reasons are plati- 
tudes, wholesaled by flatterers, retailed by phrase- 
mongers, scattered by demagogues. There is but 
one thing — the development of better education 
of the people — to lift them above buffoonery, 
party cries and the Aviles of chicanery that will in- 
sure a fair discussion in public affairs and a real- 
ization of republican ideals.'' 

I believe ex-President White is wrong in his 
strictures upon the people. I find in history no- 
thing to warrant any conclusion opposed to the 
proposition that in every age the people by a large 



146 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

majority, in the heart, at the very basis, have 
been better and more to be trusted than have been 
the so-called leaders or educated classes in matters 
of greatest moment and best calculated for the 
good of the whole. 

On the other hand it is far from right to con- 
template the "voice of the people" as the " voice 
of God". 

There is required something far more than edu- 
cation in the worldly or ordinary sense, that is, 
something other than mechanical learning of and 
from men. The want of that something, herein- 
after described, has always been, far more than 
anything else, that which is responsible for the 
periodic declines, disruptions and extinctions of 
cities, nations and peoples. 

But let us look at the before mentioned state- 
ments of President White, and remember that al- 
though his averments may seem at first glance 
correct enough, yet, if we sufficiently consider the 
matter, it will be found that what he calls *<the 
voice of the people," has not in reality been such. 
Furthermore, it will be found that what he calls 
the real cause of the '* voice of the people," as he 
terms it, in the instances quoted from his aver- 
ments, was not in fact the uneducated condition 
of the people, but Avas the debauchery and wicked- 
ness of the high and mighty people, falsely and 
over educated, in governmental control, so to 
speak — educated in egoism and conceit ! 



THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 147 

Hereinafter the undertaking will be to clearly 
show just what is lacking with education to make 
" the voice of the people" the " voice of God ! '' 

Exception is taken to the statement that Nero 
was in reality popular with a majority of the Ro- 
mans. Rather, he was a tyrannical monster sur- 
rounded, aided, abetted and supported by a pow- 
erful host of his immitators or co-licentious 
degenerates, and to such a degree that the com- 
mon people had no show at all. For instance, 
something of this is illustrated in Russia, where 
the people have not been greatly to blame, even 
though grossly illiterate, but where they have 
been brutally kept down, as a thousand unarmed 
men may be cowed, for a time, by a dozen edu- 
cated, adroit, active and well armed villians, by 
an autocratic, unjust government viciously dom- 
inated by a highly educated but wickedly intoler- 
ant and oppressive Greek Church priest-craft. 

As to Philip II and Louis XV having had the 
acclaim of the '' voice of the people," there was 
really no truth in it, in my belief. Indeed, the 
conditions were similar to those existing in Rome 
and Russia, and these were responsible for the out- 
ward show of loyalty and support of a people 
ever held under the lash. 

While Andrew Jackson had his * 'Kitchen Cabi- 
net" and may have displayed to some extent a dog- 
matic, unyielding temperament, yet there was good 
reason for his popularity among the people, be- 



148 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

cause obviously he was an honest, God-fearing or 
worshipping man — qualities widely lacking in 
these days, especially among the highly educated 
and very wealthy classes. I share Abraham Lin- 
coln's faith in the integrity of the great bulk of 
the American people ; they were able to appreciate 
the sterling honesty of Jackson. Always the ma- 
jority of the common people are the most honest 
and more to be trusted, in the long run, than are 
the more highly educated in political manipulation 
and control, who are, I believe, usually responsi- 
ble for the wrong doing of the masses whom they, 
the aristocrats, have generally misled. 

Other statements of the learned ex-President 
are, it is believed, wide of the mark. If we have 
read history aright, it was not the "voice of the 
people" in majority that "massacred the people in 
the middle ages" or "greeted the murders of Christ- 
ians and the Inquisition with applause;" instead, 
it was the highly educated, the ruling classes, the 
brutal, wicked clergy, vested with practically in- 
vincible power (temporarily) of church and .state ! 
It is equally a mistake to say that the people cru- 
cified Jesus Christ. It was a demon-like priest- 
craft, rather than the "voice of the people," or 
the government, which was really and directly re- 
sponsible for that crime of crimes. 

Therefore, considering fairly all of the exam- 
ples presented by the honorable ex-president of 
Cornell, it will be observed that it was not so 



THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 149 

much the lack of, but the possession of intellec- 
tual development that caused or permitted the 
great historic wrongs or inconsistencies referred 
to. 

Of a truth there is something needed other and 
more than so-called education ; that is to say, 
something more than merely imbibing from the 
accumulation of ideas, imaginations, inventions 
and traditions of fellow-beings, ninety-nine er- 
rors to get one truth. 

There have been in the past many ancient cities 
highly cultivated in the arts and sciences and 
standing for a high civilization, intellectually 
speaking, still, shortly after attaining to the apex 
of worldly glory, there was invariably a rapid de- 
cline, and often obliteration. Why? Because 
the people, particularly the "educated" people in- 
variably drifted away from God and into the ser- 
vice of mammon. 

And besides, we need not boast very much of 
present intellectual achievements. In former 
ages prior to our history, there is evidence that 
the people possessed wireless telephones and 
many other scientific improvements equal to, if 
not surpassing, present accomplishments ! In the 
whirligig of time there have been many ups and 
downs of political or racial organizations or nation- 
alities, successively ; the fall, sometimes the com- 
plete extinction, following, invariably, the time 
when the people in general have fallen away from 



150 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

God's Truth into the idolatrous worship of mater- 
iality, as evidenced by the present abnormal de- 
votion to the pursuit of riches in gold and intel- 
lectual delights. We are lost indeed if we are 
either too weak to learn from the past, or from 
the higher dictates of conscience. 

Periodically the world has known the rise and 
fall of its humanity as marked off by great pro- 
phetic days or religious dispensations. The old 
doctrine of the "Fall of Man" is an absolutely 
false one. Here is the reason why. Towards 
the close of the Abrahamic Day the people of Is- 
rael had so fallen away from the true teachings, 
the spiritual Truth of God ; had so declined and 
become so dead spiritually, that they found them- 
selves in Egyptian bondage. Finally the merci- 
ful Lord raised up their deliverer in the person 
of the great prophet or law giver (instrument of 
God as an educator in the truest sense) Moses, 
who finally, after years of trials and struggles, 
led the captives, remnants of a former race of 
grandeur, from the clutches of Pharaoh unto the 
land of Canaan-Palestine. In due lapse of time, 
in spite of most clear and emphatic divine warn- 
ings through Moses, as the Mosaic day or dispen- 
sation drew to its close, and the still greater day 
or cycle of Jesus Christ exhibited its bright dawn- 
ing Light of God's Truth, the inexorable fact of 
history repeating itself was again apparent. We 
find in history how the Jews were looking for the 



THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 151 

Messiah, but as the coming of Christ was in the 
person or human body of the lowly Jesus of Na- 
zareth and not in accordance with their material 
and superficial conceptions and imaginations of 
the coming, as they ignorantly supposed it must 
be, in great earthly pomp and glory, they would 
have Toothing of the divine sonship manifestation 
of God, but denied, rejected and cruelly perse- 
cuted and crucified Him. The Jews had become 
so dead spiritually they utterly failed to appre- 
hend the Christ whom Moses, the prophet they 
professed allegiance to, had so plainly and fully 
foretold ! Nor could those misguided people 
understand Christ when He declared shortly be- 
fore being led to crucifixion : "1 have overcome 
the world." 

Nothwithstanding the execrable action of man, 
so often exhibited in the march of the great ages, 
the eternal word of God through His Christ was 
established "never to pass away" I It was simply 
a renewal, but in greater force than ever before, 
of the restoring, refreshing breath of God's Truth, 
without which we could not exist, but for which 
we are ever so ungrateful and undeserving. What 
vicissitudes, what convulsions, what deplorable 
actions, yea crimes, have ceaselessly accompanied, 
indeed, been a part of the great rise and spread 
of Christianity ! 

Another great epoch-marking change has be- 
come evident ; another remarkable dispensation is 



152 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

already inaugurated — the greatest and the grand- 
est, the most spiritual and perfect the world has 
witnessed ! How many are wide-awake enough to 
apprehend and respond ? Does the new visitation 
find much more in the people of earth than the 
oft repeated high development and activities in 
mental, and perhaps moral qualities ? Shall we be 
able to, will we avoid the fatal mistakes of the 
Jews ? 

History tells us there have been seven great re- 
ligious systems of the world. In this connection 
the thoughtful and spiritually inclined will find 
much food for thought and aspiration in the twelfth 
chapter of Daniel and the forth and fifth chapters 
of Revelation. The "book" means the religion of 
God — and there never was and never will be other 
than one religion of God! In every one of those 
seven great systems or revelations, Sabeanism or 
Fettishism (now represented by many fragments 
of religious systems) , Zoroastrianism, Confucian- 
ism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity and Mo- 
hammedanism, we will find nothing but beautiful 
harmony, if we go back to the original foundation 
teachings of each. But in contrasting such with 
modern degenerate church administeration in each 
case, there is at once apparent a wide gulf of 
departure and disparity, painfully noticeable in 
Christianity, perhaps the worst of all in this re- 
gard. Let the clergy question this if they will. 
In this sad state of affairs is found another illustra- 



THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 153 

tion, a most potent one, of the periodical fall of 
mankind. The Jews deny Christ and Mohammed, 
and the Christians deny Mohammed and virtually 
all of the other great manifestations of God. Think 
of it, the woeful disobedience and sinfulness of 
God's creatures presuming to elect as to whom of 
the divine messengers they would recognize and 
accept ! By what right have we of the Occident 
pretended to boast of our superiority over others 
of God's creatures ? Are not all creatures equally 
the children of the One God — One Creator — even 
the slaves of darkest Africa as much as those whose 
lot has been cast in more delightful surroundings ? 
Has any human being had the right to deny any 
prophet or messenger of God ? While such has 
been done time and time again, it has been because 
of the innate evil-mindedness and absence of spirit- 
uality on the part of the highly educated, more 
than on the part of the common people, whom the 
former have deceived and misled — "blind leaders 
of the blind" ! 

One of the curses of man, in causing his spiritual 
blindness, is over devotion to empty form and cer- 
emony. It is a fact and always has been that as 
man develops his propensity for delving amongst 
and individual construction of complicated details 
of mere outward form, show, pomp and material 
glory, whether or not associated with ritual, creed 
or dogma, then, in proportion to his activity in 
that direction, does he in an inverse ratio siiffer 



154 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

in loss of spirituality and consequent and pitiable 
decline. That is what one gets from devotion to 
external rather than internal or spiritual matters. 
The former is "education" of man ; the latter is 
real knowledge! Verily there is a vast deal of dif- 
ference between "education" and real knowledge/ 

Assume, and it is a fact, that this earth is a vast 
school-house ; that God is the Principal ; that all 
the people of the world are scholars, and that the 
prophets and messengers are the teachers or ed- 
ucators, sent by the divine Principal and His dis- 
pensers of real knowledge for the pre-ordained 
instruction of His creatures — His scholars in the 
grand school of life. Thus the divine plan for the 
education of^ mankind is apparent. Jesus Christ 
in His matchless parabolic teachings, called the 
earth the vineyard, and God the Lord of the vine- 
yard. In the parable of "the wicked husbandmen" 
He clearly called the clergy of all times those 
wicked husbandmen ! It seems strange at first, 
but it is true that the clergy are the last in the 
time of or immediately following every new Reve- 
lation to respond to and accept it. 

This is the fact of transcendental importance. 
It must be admitted that all Knowledge is of and 
from God ; that not a single idea or item of truth 
has appeared save from God — at some time ! The 
Truth — God-Knowledge — has ever been showered 
upon the world through the numerous great Ee- 
velations, also through individuals generally, in- 



THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 155 

deed through all created life, all nature ! The 
thing is to become receptive of and to form contact 
with God-Knowledge. 

Creation and inspiration is just as much of fact 
today as of any former time ! 

Whatever our individual beliefs are, it will ba^ 
difficult to find a rational person who is of sufficient 
temerity to question the proposition that the Great 
First Cause possesses every quality observable, at 
least, anywhere, and it is Eternal God and Spirit! 
It is logical to hold that the creation of man ie 
the Image and Likeness of God, means likeness 
in substance or quality — not in mere outline or 
form. 

Now then, this is reasonable. Man has the fol- 
lowing kingdoms or stations : first and lowest, 
physical ; second and next upward, the mental ; 
third, the moral; and fourth, the spiritual — the 
highest. It is clearly obvious that only the de- 
velopment and unf oldment of this last and highest, 
the spiritual station of man, can possibly, in any 
degree well and truly apprehend and know God 
and His Spiritual Truth! That being the case, it 
is perfectly apparent that real and true education 
consists in developing in us that essence of true 
spirituality, innately within every human soul 
from the beginning. Therefore we should look 
to it that all we try to do, and all we seek to learn, 
shall tend in the right direction, that is, to hasten 
forward the true opened up power of spiritual af)- 
prehenfiios ! 



156 WHENCE? VHY ? WHITHER? 



The great trouble is this, we have been "playing 
hooky" too much, with the result that we have 
paid too much attention to the vain imagination 
and speculation in the halls of learning, and too 
little heed to the revealed Word through the great 
dispensation marking prophets of God. It is in- 
deed come to this, and it is a most shameful thing, 
that people generally, even church people, are a- 
shamed to acknowledge God, the true Father ! 

The world-school idea is merely a picture of one 
view of the Christ teachings, for His whole life's 
work not only predicated the coming of the day 
of God on earthy but taught mankind how to be- 
come conscious of the true Fatherhood of God and 
the brotherhood of man and of the innate power 
in every human being, the development of which 
brings the realization of what was primarily de- 
signed and provided — inter-communication with 
God! 

The microcosm, the little world or universe of 
man, is truly a picture in miniature and sign and 
form of the great macrocosm of the vast universe 
of worlds I Christ declared : "In my Father's 
house are many mansions" I He surely meant that 
the Father's house was the vast universe, and that 
the many mansions were the infinite number of 
inhabited planets ! Is it not obvious that this world , 
perhaps the smallest of the inhabited planets, is 
merely the primary school-starting place of man, 
who is designed to progress onward and upward 



THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 1S7 

through myriads of successively graduated and 
progressive worlds ? Christ declared we were to 
become one with the Father — if we were obedient I 
Is not our course for the high attainment — true 
education — true knowledge . — God-knowledge — a 
straight and clear proposition? 

The fact is and ever has been that men are prone 
to run to the extreme. Intellectual development, 
in even the ordinary sense, is by no means to be 
discredited ; rather, it is to be desired, but the 
thing is to have the right sort, and always havt' 
in mind true education of ^ from and unto God in 
the very highest sense. A good physique is very 
much to be desired, but it is not everything. It 
is a too common error among physical culturists 
to carry training for physical development to an 
absurd extreme, wholly out of proportion to the 
beneficial results derived. Practically the same 
may be said with reference to many educational 
cranks. There is a tremendous advocacy of educa- 
tion, by which is meant simply intellectual train- 
ing and development, as being the panacea for 
every ill, so to speak. But the matter is carried 
to an unwise extreme, for, as already remarked, 
the intellectual station of man as well as the ph3^s- 
ical, has its limitations. As Rev. Dr. Hillis has 
said : "We are all run mad with intellectuality." 
There is much education which fails to educate, 
and when so-called education sw^ells us to the 
veritable bursting; point with vain ego, it is high 



158 WHENCE? VHY? WHITHER? 

time to strive to see where we are drifting to. 

It is quite common for our educators and the 
most conspicuous advocates of education, so-called, 
(that is to say, the cramming full of others' ideas 
and guesses) to show a deplorable wanting in rea- 
sonable knowledge of that which makes for real 
development in the higher sense. We all have 
got to know, or fail in the object of this life here, 
that the sole object of being here in this prepara- 
tory school is to work our passage and fit ourselves 
for the great unending hereafter. Mere intellect- 
ual training is to be considered practically an a 
par in importance with the trade of a carpenter, 
for like the houses we live in and the clothes we 
wear, all of the accomplishments relating to our 
means of subsistence, comfort and enjoyment are 
but tools to work with in accomplishing our real 
and great destined purpose. 

What then is the great thing to learn ? Jesus 
Christ told us when He said : Become like this 
little child. While the great requisite is unobtain- 
able by the senses and the mind it is in reality 
very simple. We must make ourselves receptive 
to the constructive and sustaining power of and 
from God! God is not only the Source of all, 
but is the continuing Sustenance of all! In spite 
of our vileness in sin and disobedience of the com- 
mands of our heavenly Father, His love, spirit 
and truth constantly upholds us. Now it is easy 
to see that the pure spiritual Truth of God cannot 



THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 159 

be expected to find suflicient lodgment in any but 
a person possessing a strictly honest and pure 
heart and soul, to at least a degree to be appreci- 
able. As the electric motor on the car has no 
power in and of itself, but partakes of the power 
from the powerhouse when harmony of connection 
exists^ so man appropriates, feels, utilizes the in- 
comparable power of God when he puts himself in 
harmony with God by being like unto a little ^child 
in humility^ faith ^ love^ unselfishness^ honesty^ 
truth ! 

This is the exact undeniable truth. The most 
ignorant people have been the most learned — that 
is, in the possession of the highest degree of knowl- 
edge. Dotted all over the })ast there are seen 
traces of simple, yet great souls, who were never 
"educated," still were the most highly learned in 
the truest sense in the world. Jesus of Nazareth 
was one, Mohammed was another, and there have 
b6en many others, indeed hordes of those through 
whom has been manifested powers of inspiration, 
invention, art delineation, music, bravery, courage, 
servitude, sacrifice and all the power of necessary 
equipment to work for the emancipation of self 
and others. Who among the countless thousands 
of very wealthy and very learned of the world in 
all times have so fixed and beautiful a position in 
history as the humble, illiterate fishermen, who in 
the time of Christ, were pure, honest and true 
enough to see spiritually and behold and acknowl- 



160 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

edge the great God manifestation at that time ? 
Who can point to a very "learned" person that at 
the same time did likewise ! The high priest Cai- 
aphas, typical of the "learned," haughty cleric^ 
and scholar of the period, had just the same op- 
portunity the humble illiterate fisherman, Peter, 
had to know the reality of the Christ manifesta- 
tion, but the arrogance, the result of the pride of 
intellect, consciously or unconsciously supplanting 
or dominating the higher and truer life, unfitted 
Caiaphas and prevented his spiritual development 
to a degree sufficient to enable his apprehending 
the Lord Christ ! Is not this circumstance an of- 
fering of food for earnest thought and reflection ? 

The general run of educators to the contrary 
notwithstanding, the true observ^er of the past and 
the present surely finds that there has always been 
a more apt and effective perception and adoption 
of reality of knowledge, which makes for enduring 
progress, among the ranks of the people, yes, the 
illiterate, if you please, to a far greater extent 
than among the professional educators ! 

Just as true as it is true that the scientific world 
will eventually recognize the fact that what it has 
ever denominated as incorporeal, the intangible 
(the spirit, or those things beyond the perception 
of the mere senses or the mind), is really the un- 
changeable and ponderable, while all phenomena 
of matter are continually subjected to and under- 
going change and reversion, so will educators be 



THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 161 

forced to accede to the proposition that true edu- 
cation in the highest and fullest sense relates not 
to mere physical or intellectual study and accom- 
plishment, but to that which makes for the highest 
or spiritual station or kingdom of man. 

The really great thing to do is to build that 
which goes with us beyond the grave. By con- 
forming to the following Divine Dictum quoted 
from the Sermon on the Mount, we will have true 
education, that is to say, we will make ourselves 
receptive to the reality of knowledge, per se ; 
verily, God Knowledge ! This is the way, the 
only way to avert the stupendous disaster, and it 
is indeed impending, involved in Dr. White's 
query "Why the United States should not meet 
the same fate" — of the fallen nations of the past ? 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for their's is the 
kingdom of heaven." 

"Blessed are the meek ; for they shall inherit 
the earth." 

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst 
after righteousness ; for they shall be filled." 

"Blessed are the merciful ; for they shall obtain 
mercy." 

"Blessed are the pure in heart ; for they shall 
see God." 

"Blessed are the peacemakers ; for they shall be 
called the children of God." 

"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, 
do good to them that hate you," etc. 



162 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father 
which is in Heaven is perfect." 

The solution, the whole, the only solution of 
the entire problem, indeed all problems, lies in 
the following : 

"Seek ye first the Mngdom of God and His right- 
eousness ; and all these (other) things shall be 
added unto you." 

It is therefore submitted to the people of pure, 
honest, fair minds and hearts, that, after due and 
careful consideration, all the rest besides "educa- 
tion" are not mere "platitudes, wholesaled by flat- 
terers, retailed by phrase-mongers, scattered 
abroad by demagogues," as Dr. White is alleged 
to have declared. 

That noted educator is reminded of the irrefut- 
able fact that "education,'' like about everything 
else, has drifted away, and most woefully, from 
the reality of Source, Attainment, and Purpose ! 

The present discussion, it is believed, has 
brought out this profound distinction : the great 
difference between knowledge^ per se^ the reality 
of Knowledge, that is God-Knowledge^ and mere 
"education'' so-called, the ideas and imaginations 
of man -— that sort of education which does not 
truly educate. This is clearly observable in all 
walks of life, particularly in the professions, and 
notably in the clerical profession. 

It is high time so-called "educators" learned to 
differentiate between the kind of "education" 



THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 163 

which does not profitably educate, and the other 
kind of education which leads to and is based up- 
on absolute knowledge ; which shows how to attain 
unto that absolute and perfect Knowledge ! 

In a word we trust it is made clear that educa- 
tion unaccompanied with purity of mind, heart 
and intent, and sincerity, honesty, unselfishness 
and Spirit, is practically synonymous with degra- 
dation ! 

As music is dead without harmony, so education 
is dead without the spirit of God's Truth ! 



THE RACE PROBLEM 

SOLVED BY STRIKING AT THE ROOT 



CHAPTER II 




OT long ago a New York morning paper 

published a "symposium" on the race 

question, the object being to show 

"How Education will solve the so-called 

Negro Problem." 

The articles numbering five, six and seven in 
the series have been particularly called to my at- 
tention. These were written by the Governor of 
a great State ; a President of a great University ; 
and by a former Congressman, President of an- 
other great University, respectively. 

We shall see whether these gentlemen are mis- 
taken in the views they present. 

It is well to bear in mind the fact that name 
and place do not always indicate true greatness 
or the work of genius. Often greatness is wrong- 
fully assumed, as in the case of the execrable 
wretch known in history as Nero, who mounte- 
banked the claim of being "The Saviour of the 
World." 

History, and it is not always right, also says of 
King Henry VHI : "A more vain-glorious and 
self-willed cox-comb never wore a crown ;" that 
he was forever trying to "display Henry the King," 



THE RACE PROBLEM 165 

and that in him there was a "total absence of real 
greatness of character." 

Of a truth, in many instances and in, probably, 
all ages, greatness has been thrust upon man. Like- 
wise it is true that often very small men are found 
in great places, but this is not said of the above 
named gentlemen, rather, it is said of men in 
general; men who pose as public Educators, while 
lacking in familiarity with foundation principles 
involved in the premises. 

For every discovered hero there are ten thous- 
and undiscovered. It is in accordance with a high 
law that truly great men are invariably simple and 
unassuming among their fellow-men. There are 
such among the professional educators of the world 
but the point is, and it is an alarming fact, the 
world is full of prominent writers, educators and 
so-called "great men" who manifest a woefuU in- 
ability to grasp the underlying principles — the 
real cause ; the far reaching purpose ; the higher 
significance in the many propositions demanding 
solution. The matter may be ignored ; ears may 
become suddenly deaf, but the irrefutable fact re- 
mains that the out-put from the "profound" think- 
ing mills is seriously lacking in the ability to reach 
below the mere exterior or covering of most vital 
questions. How can solutions of great problems 
be expected to come from such sources ? 

If education, that is to say, worldly intellectual 
training, is only able to produce men sitting in 



166 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

high places in theological, educational, political 
and physical circles, who are capable of contempla- 
ting mere surface facts and not the inner and un- 
derlying principles and causes at the root or basis ; 
it must be admitted that intellectual development 
as such, considering the present degree of material 
attainment in the world, has reached its limit of 
growth and unf oldment ; also that there is some- 
thing higher and wore important than mere in- 
tellectuality ! 

The Grovernor states that the Caucasion race is 
''The highest type of the human family."" In so 
declaring it is obvious that there was held in view 
only the "material" accomplishments of the world. 
Along this line it is clear that the people of the 
United States of America lead the world in agri- 
culture, manufacturing, invention, liberty and 
freedom, and general productiveness, progress 
and development. But what was our development, 
our civilization only a few centuries ago ? Has 
not our present condition followed the fullest de- 
gree of racial mixture ? What if we can claim we 
are intellectual leaders, high in the arts and scien- 
ces, when we ignore that which is incomparably 
higher? Other nations in the past have risen to 
our intellectual heights, and perhaps beyond our 
station, only to be dashed in pieces because lack- 
ing something higher than mere intellectual train- 
ing and development. Many great nations have 
attained to a lofty station through qualification in 



THE RACE PROBLEM 167 

the arts and sciences, and in worldly educational 
and commercial lines, then — fell. Let us remem- 
ber that the mental or intellectual station is but 
one step above the physical. 

The writer knows a young negro, a son of 
American slavery, who is, it is believed, more ad- 
vanced and highly developed, in the truest sense, 
than many of the greatest and most popular clery- 
men in a certain metropolitan center — more partic- 
ularly those of spectacular prominence before the 
world. This colored youth was a humble servant 
of a prominent, wealthy, and noble American 
woman. He is great in the true sense, notwith- 
standing he occupied a menial position. In reality 
the true love and faith represented by this humble 
brother made him an example eminently worthy of 
emulation by many proud and prominent educa- 
tors. 

Fictitious greatness ever has been a very com- 
mon thing in the world. The Cyclopedia of Bi- 
ography, page 311, refers to Alfonso d' Albuquer- 
que as one who was fictitiously great. It says : 
"Three hundred and fifty years ago (this name) 
was as familiar and famous as the names of Napol- 
eon, Wellington and Washington now are. He 
was generally spoken of as the great Albuquerque. 
He was certainly one of the most successful of 
conquerors and excelled all the commanders of 
his time, except Pizarro and Cortes, in battering 
down other people's towns and carrying off their 



168 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

gold, silver and diamonds. At this day all Christ- 
ians appear to have been fully convinced that the 
heathen had no rights which Christians were bound 
to respect." 

Contrast the foregoing with the life of Cosmo 
de'Medici who flourished in Italy in the 14th cen- 
tury and was noted for his "greatness of goodness." 
He lived a modest, humble, private citizen, em- 
ploying his time and riches for the amelioration 
of his country and fellowmen. One, the former, 
assumed greatness ; Cosmo de'Medici lived it. 

We would do well to think and ponder some- 
times before arrogating too much to our Caucasion 
race. World history often has shown that the 
very highest attainment has been accomplished by 
those of meagre intellectual proficiency. But that 
is no reason for, nor do we argue against "learn- 
ing" of the right sort, however, for the real ac- 
complishment of life, great so-called learning has 
been, and can be dispensed with. There are two 
things very apt to defeat the real object of being 
on earth ; proud learning and great riches. Of 
what good are either unless they lead us up to, 
rather than away from, the real attainment — the 
accomplishment of the destined purpose of life ? 

In another article in the same symposium series 
a university president, before mentioned, says: 
"Every consideration of this problem (of the 
races) should start with a full recognition of the 
fact that the negro is a child race, at least two 



THE RACE PROBLEM 169 

thousand years behind the white race in its evolu- 
tion. All mistakes in the past treatment of the 
negro have resulted from our failure to recognize 
this fundamental fact." And after speaking of 
education and training in freedom and right en- 
vironment as being calculated to ''advance a race 
very rapidly," he says : "But they have not made 
him the equal of his white brother, and no amount 
of liberty is going to do this without the aid of 
time and nature's slow working forces." This distin- 
guished gentleman pleads "for justice and common 
sense in the education of the negro for American 
citizenship," and he does well in speaking of "the 
noble, self-sacrificing way in which the Southern 
people have given of their very limited resources 
for the education of their recent slaves." 

These writers and indeed all of those already 
noted, who dilate so learnedly upon this and al- 
lied subjects, declare for "education" as the true 
and only solvent of the great problems confront- 
ing mankind. Granting they are right, at least 
in a certain sense, it is pertinent to inquire as to 
what sort of "education" is meant ? What is edu- 
cation anyway ? Let us answer that question, first, 
however, taking a good square look at the real 
situation. 

If we are endowed with practical common sense 
and the power to exercise normal reason and ra- 
tional judgment, we are bound to admit that there 
is too much false or useless and misdirected or 



170 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

misapplied education — "education" which does not 
educate ; which does not truly inspire and uplift 
us beyond this mere temporary world ; the con- 
tingent requirements, environments, perishable 
and incidental attainments, all of which are left 
behind when the soul or spirit, the real life, mar- 
ches irresistably onward and upward through the 
inevitable change called death. It has to be ad- 
mitted that there is as truly a distorted "education- 
al"development, as there is occasionally a distorted, 
unnatural and unnecessary physical development. 

Should the desire be to see how much of an edu- 
cational prodigy can be produced, for showing 
possible attainment, well and good — possibly, as 
may be the abnormal development of man or horse 
for exhibition purposes, but it does not follow 
that such monstrosities are well calculated for the 
best interests of mankind in everyday life and ex- 
perience, and certainly not for the highest ultimate 
good. Of what use is a horse which has been 
strenuously trained for the race-track to the prac- 
tical farmer ? Or the monstrous physical develop- 
ment )of a Sandow or *' Terrible Turk" for the 
ordinary and higher calling of man, or for other 
than mere exhibition purposes? 

When history shows us that the greatest men 
of the world in all ages, as compared with their 
contemporary fellowmen of high worldly attain- 
ments', have always been those who were of the 
simple and uneducated classes, it is high time for 
us to recognize the fact that there is something 



THE RACE PROBLEM 171 

more and higher than what is generally termed 
'^education" which is responsible for true educa- 
tion, true evolution and progress. 

In a broad and true sense the great life failures 
have been from the ranks of the so-called learned 
savants of various ages. Some of them have con- 
fessed, but more have conspicuously illustrated 
the absence of really high attainment. On the 
other hand the simplest, humblest, and most un- 
developed along '* educational" lines have mani- 
fested to the world the noblest grandeur in soul 
unfoldment. 

It will be noted, as elsewhere stated, that the 
mental sub-division of man is only one step re- 
moved above his physical or lowest station. All of 
these stations are so important that man cannot be 
here if he is minus of either ; but there is danger 
in attaching too much importance to that much 
vaunted mental or intellectual station, the next to 
the lowest. It is a grand thing to have a good 
physique, but one might be a physical giant and 
yet hav« little of intellectual, moral or spiritual 
development. The late Alexander H. Stephens, 
the famous southern Statesman, was a remarkable 
example of a great intellect in a weak body. His 
case was an exception to the general rule. It is 
quite evident that the perfect man will be fully 
developed in all of his stations or degrees ; all in 
harmony with each other. 

That we in North America represent a division 



172 VHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

of the human race which is, as before remarked, 
more highly developed and civilized than is else- 
where found, is quite evident. Why is this so? 
Is it because we possess more of intellectual per- 
fection ? Largely so perhaps, but is it not chiefly 
because ours is the cosmopolitan nation ? There is 
apparent warrant for the conclusion that our su- 
perior development is the natural result of the 
coming together and intermarriage of many and 
diverse races, the amalgamation of widely different 
elements, as hitherto contemplated, forming a ho- 
mogeneous whole, a new body politic. Butther« 
is still something lacking. 

In the grand, inexorable, onward and upward 
march of mankind the inevitable stage of decay is 
just as unavoidable as is the decay of the vege- 
table seed, which, planted in the earth, has to 
give up its life form before blossoming forth into 
a higher expression or development or beauty. 
But, notwithstanding ourjracial achievements, have 
we not lost sight entirely of the very greatest of 
all, the spiritual need? Are not the Oriental na- 
tions, in a general sense, with their less amount 
of so-called worldly accomplishment, and with 
their greater adherence to certain phases of ancient 
custom, especially in the brutal art of warfare, 
more spiritually inclined and reverent? At all 
events it has to be admitted that they worship only 
one God^ while we foolishly and very wickedly 
insist upon worshipping, or upon pretenting to 
worship a plurality of gods I 



THE RACE PROBLEM 173 

We have a great lesson to learn. Let us real- 
ize this ; that we are carried away with too much 
devotion to our mere material, our transitory in- 
interests. This is the great rock upon which 
has been foundered the great nations of the 
past — Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc., and it is due to 
us now to take warning I I^t is up to us to avoid 
the tremendous blunders of the past ! We must 
learn to obey the law of the immemorial past — 
the universal law of all time. We must recognize 
and be obedient to the higher laws and obligations, 
for that is the only way to reach real success I We 
must know that the reality of everything is Spirit 
— not that which worldly, infantile, erratic science 
has denominated as material and tangible — mere 
physical phenomena. We must know that such 
materiality is nothing more than the phenomena 
of presentment to us of the mere outward surface 
or outer covering of the within, the reality be- 
hind ! The Spirit ! That which science has al- 
ways called the tangible is in reality the intan- 
gible ! What science has termed the enduring 
is, as a matter of fact, that which is ever subject 
to constant change and reversion I The spirit, 
that which is invisible to the senses and the 
mind, is absolutely unchangeable ! How essen- 
tial it is that we reverse our mode of living and 
thinking ! Is it not up to us now, at once, to 
get into the habit of contemplating the real life, 
powers and forces as spiritual forces, indestruct- 



174 WHENCE? VHY ? WHITHER? 



ible, and eternal? Is it not time for us to know 
that all real advancement is made through the real 
spiritual development ? That nothing else is or can 
be responsible for true progress — nothing other 
than the Spirit ? 

There is nothing in the world, not even a true 
thought or idea but which at some time came from 
the Primary Causation — God ! 

If our rose garden gets filled with weeds which 
choke and kill the real flowers of life and beauty, 
let us pluck them out by the roots and be rid of 
them. In other words, if our lives have become 
too preoccupied with our lower stations, the physi- 
cal and mental ; if habit and prejudice have blinded 
us to the plain and simple truth, may God give us 
inclination and determination to do as the apostle 
Paul did — retire into solitude and t^nlearn the trash 
education, the accumulated and multiplied false 
notions of centuries, of ages, so as to become re- 
ceptive to Truth from its natural source, direct 
from God ! We should know and be satisfied with 
the old fashioned law enunciated by Jesus Christ 
and the apostles, and be mindful of the familiar 
maxim, "He alone is great in wisdom and know- 
ledge who is conscious of his own vast ignorance/' 

To know and become receptive to the spiritual 
laws we have to be born again, born of the spirit, 
as Christ said. This is accomplished only by be- 
ing honest, sincere, earnest, pure in heart, faith- 
ful, firm and steadfast respecting the teachings 



THE RACE PROBLEM 175 

contained in the Sermon on the Mount. This is 
not a novel idea — save in being put in actual prac- 
tice. It is a thing we have so highly regarded that 
we have put it away, and so very carefully, even 
out of sight and recollection ! 

Herein the endeavor has been to show how to 
really and truly solve the Race Problem, indeed, 
every problem ; to show that there is but one way 
— strike at the root, in a word, by recognizing 
and obeying, in spirit and in truth, the eternal 
and irrevocable command of Christ, those heaven- 
ly words which have been thundering down the 
centuries, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and 
His righteousness." This must supersede and sup- 
plant the mammon service, in or out of church, 
perhaps worse in than out ! If this seems impossi- 
ble, just remember that practically all branches of 
the church are corrupt money getters, notably the 
Episcopal and Presbyterian administrations in 
New York City, said to be notoriously the most 
penurious and cruel of landlords in the city ! We 
must make haste and arouse ourselves from the 
stupor which has, with ever increasing power of 
enthralling and making us captives, for many 
centuries, led us unconsciously away from God 
and His Truth ; from practical, rational common- 
sense. We may well wish that our deplorable con- 
dition was all a nightmare from which we should 
awaken. But, sad fact, it is a reality from which 
there is no escape, except by "the straight and 



176 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

narrow way/' that forgotten or neglected, brush- 
grown and deserted road, the perfection and purity 
of which has been pointed out to humanity by the 
divine educators in every age or dispensation. 

The long series of ably written articles compos- 
ing the symposium referred to were contributed 
by many professional educators, occupying high 
positions, most of whom were clerical. It is as- 
sumed that they all knew of Christ's teachings, 
particularly His command as to first seeking the 
Kingdom as being the predicate of success in solv- 
ing any and every problem, but it is impossible to 
discover in any of those articles even the slightest 
allusion thereto ! Is not this a case of supplanting 
the very Highest Authority with the folly of man ? 
The spiritually dead theologians and clergy are 
invited, yea, urged to consider, to pray to God 
and in the secrecy of their closets^ for instruction, 
guidance, enlightenment. They are now and here 
asked if we have not been setting forth the true 
and only way to solve the race and all problems ? 

When we are truly educated, that is, possess 
spiritual development, have God-Knowledge, 
we will not look down upon the negro or any 
other human being of God's creation, but we 
will acknowledge the fact that every human being 
intended to be in the "image and likeness of God,'' 
our Father, was likewise intended to be of one 
brotherhood as so magnificently, yet so simply ex- 
pressed in the following words : 



THE RACE PROBLEM 177 

"Do you know why We created you from one 
clay? That no one should glorify himself over 
the other. Always be mindful of how you were 
created, for as We created you from one substance, 
you must be as one soul, walking on the same feet, 
eating with one mouth and living in one land, 
that you may be able to show from your being and 
your deeds and actions the signs of the Unity and 
the essence of abstraction. This is My Advice to 
you, O people of Light ; therefore profit by this 
Advice, that you may attain the fruits of Holi- 
ness from the trees of Might and Power.'' (Ut- 
terance of The Glory of God.) 

If we are rational and sincere we must admit 
that we are all off the track regarding Religion, 
that is, Truth ; that we are all wrong in the mat- 
ter of education ; that we all err as to the way of 
solution of the race or other problems, and that 
we can square ourselves with God and His Truth 
and possess real and true knowledge only by 
obeying the divine commands ! 



CAPITAL AND LABOR 

TRUE SOLUTION OF THE GREAT PROBLEM 



CHAPTER III 




ANY treatises have been published on 
the question "How Shall Capital and 
Labor be Reconciled ?" The foremost 
thinkers of America and of the whole 
civilized world have engaged in the discussion of 
this most important subject. Capitalists, socialists, 
scholars, clergymen, lawyers and men represent- 
ing all lines of thought and action have contributed 
much of interest and value. 

There are many reasons why the solution of 
this great problem should attract general attention, 
yet in all its many and varied treatments there has 
always been a conspicuous absence of the one true 
solution — namely: due recognition, acceptance 
and treatment of the underlying principle at the 
root of the whole matter ! The time is ripe to con- 
sider this, the real and only solution so persis- 
tently avoided by able writers of world wide fame. 

The present purpose is to show, 1 : That the 
treatment of this vital question by these "foremost 
thinkers,'' has been, thus far, pointedly super- 
ficial. 2 : That the way to reach an absolutely 
true solution is ,by striking at the root. 3 : That 
to penetrate thereto we must contemplate causa- 



CAPITAL AND LABOR 179 

tion and sustenance — the eternal basic principle — 
and not stand in the way of real progress and de- 
velopment. 

One renowned lecturer and writer, a reverend 
doctor, in discussing this question, gives emphasis 
to the moral phase. He says : *'What shall we 
do? Education, profit-sharing, co-operation, trade 
unions, arbitration — these are well. But should 
we ignore the political method" ? This from a pro- 
fessional teacher of Divine Truth and methods of 
procedure. Continuing the writer said : "The party 
that dared to stand for principle applied in prac- 
tical measures did free the slaves." He said this 
in connection with his history of the famous anti- 
slavery agitation and its results. This is admit- 
tedly right so far as it goes, but it does not go far 
enough — it does not reach down to the real basis. 
There can be no great and continued success while 
ignoring the cause of all existing matter, of all 
conditions. 

The gentleman further says, "But those who 
advocate simply education, profit-sharing, etc., 
forget one thing. They forget what the Whig 
party forgot ; that the present economic problem 
is a great moral issue, which the logic of events 
is steadily and rapidly forcing to an issue." "Moral 
Issue'' is good, yes, more than good. It is great. 
But it is low down in the scale by the side of that 
which really works the emancipation of mankind. 
To me it is a serious matter, the fact that a minister 



180 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

of the Gospel of Jesus Christ does not point out 
the true situation ; the real inherent cause of the 
derelopment of the human race towards perfection. 
This eminent divine writes concerning the de- 
plorable effect of trust consolidations, from Maine 
to California, resulting in despotic monopoly in 
about every line of industry and extenting prac- 
tically ''over hall and bench, over pulpit, press 
and over ballot." He quotes from Charles Fran- 
cis Adams (not a socialist), who wrote in 1871 ; 
''The system of corporate life and corporate power 
is yet in its infancy. It tends always to develop- 
ment ; always to consolidation ; it is ever grasping 
new powers or insidiously exercising covert influ- 
ences. Even now (1871) the system threatens 
the central government. . . The belief is common 
in America that the day is at hand when corpora- 
tions far greater than ever — swaying power such 
as has never in the world's history been trusted in 
the hands of mere private citizens, controlled by 
single men like Vanderbilt or by combinations of 
men, like Fisk, Gould and Sage — after having cre- 
ated a system of quiet but irrepressible corruption 
— will ultimately succeed in directing government 
itself." This writer asks : "Has that day come ?" 
Against such a situation is it sufficient answer to 
frame pretty words about reconciling capital and 
labor? Can trade unions, co-operative colonies, 
profit-sharing schemes, boards of arbitration, even 
capitalist-owned churches and schools meet the 



CAPITAL AND LABOR 181 

issue ? Is it for men who really serve the public 
need to cry peace, peace, when there is no peace? 
For our part we answer that the only power cap- 
able of meeting the situation is the concerted 
moral sense of the whole people. In this we have 
faith. The American people are not yet enslaved." 
I, too, have confidence in the "moral sense of 
the whole people." But, I have faith in that which 
reaches far above and beyond mere moral sense 
and which is at the very base of all true and high 
advancement : Logos ! the Word ! That Incom- 
parable Uplifting Power which comes from the 
Source of our being into and through the soul of 
man ! It is God ! Not only the Creator but eter- 
nally the Sustainer of all ! AVhat is commonly 
called the ''moral state or condition" is not to be 
considered for an instant as a foundation in contem- 
plating causes and in the solving of vast problems. 
The real man is still in process of creation. He 
is still working out his destined purpose. His 
moral phase marks a certain stage of unfoldment, 
and while it represents a long step above animal 
conditions, it is yet far short of ultimate attain- 
ment. To him who is so fortunate as to possess 
common sense, however simple and undeveloped 
in other respects, there must be a full conscious- 
ness of the Truth of the Law, that the cause of 
man is perfection — Spirit; That the real man, or 
ego, is likewise in essence, spirit, and not a mere 
mineral or vegetable substance, entering into the 



182 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

composition of the physical body, nor even the 
moral or intellectual qualities ; which are only 
subordinate to the real life, the real spirit, the 
real ego. 

The actual life of the oak tree is, in essence, 
contained in the acorn. Now because the acorn 
is brought within certain relations into a combina- 
tion with rich earth, sun-light and atmospheric 
elements, all of which results in the oak tree, it 
does not follow that this visible manifestation con- 
stitutes the real life and its Source. 

Entering into the manifestation of man's exist- 
ence are found ; Firsts the various mineral and 
vegetable elements of the manifold traits of the 
lower animal ; Second^ the intellectual and moral 
phases ; and Third and far above and beyond all 
others^ is the quality less common to the realization 
of the world : the real being the essence^ of Life ! 
Man is greatly lacking in his lesson of life so long 
as he considers intellectuality and morality to be 
the highest attainment and attempts through these 
alone to solve the Capital and Labor problems, or 
any other of the various vital problem, before the 
world. 

We can now demonstrate the unvarying Law 
of Cause and Effect, as follows : The Cause, the 
Author and Sustainer of all we behold, the Eternal 
self-existing Spirit ; a process of working out the 
''Great Plans" that will not admit of comparison 
with that which it has pleased the ''scientific 



CAPITAL AND LABOR 183 

world" to term ''the material." This Cause is the 
real^ the Spirit, which is unchangeable, while all else 
is subject to reversion and change. The real life 
of man, indeed of anything manifested, is Spiritual . 
That which covers — so to speak — to the mortal 
mind, the inner, the real Life behind, we call 
matter or the material. The Spiritual or real 
Life is usually undiscernible because of material 
limitations. Through the cultivation and rapid 
development of the higher qualities of man in this 
wonderfully progressive Twentieth Century, the 
scientists of the future will be compelled to con- 
template and wrestle with The Great Law so 
little understood hitherto. 

A proper consideration of the subject prepares 
us to realize that the individual man comprises, as 
elsewhere stated, four well defined stations, name- 
ly: first, physical ; second, mental ; third, moral ; 
fourth, spiritual. 

The truth of this can not be refuted. 

In the Bible we read an allegorical story of Cain 
killing Abel, his brother. 

Now «'Cain" signifies ''red or reddish yellow." 
(Standard Dictionary.) More fully and complete- 
ly the word Cain means a tiller of the soil, or 
standing for the mineral, earthly, sensual, selfish 
side of the soul, in short, the lower nature of man. 
"Abel" signifies the spiritual or higher nature. 

It is a well known fact that during the preced- 
ing ages the lower or brutal nature has, in general, 



184 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

governed the earth. But the two natures, the 
higher and the lower represented by Abel and 
Cain, have ever contended for the supremacy, and 
it is only of recent date that we begin to realize 
this great truth, that the higher moral and spirit- 
ual nature has actually become a potent force in 
ruling the world. 

This idea is in harmony with the theory of the 
real creation of man from the Adamic age and 
numberless prior ages to the present. 

This contention and strife between the higher 
and lower nature, is gradually reaching grand re- 
sults. The higher will, more and more, become 
uppermost and will apprehend the higher condit- 
ions sufficiently to be actuated by lofty convictions 
and gradually control socialistic, and indeed all 
questions which make for the uplifting of man- 
kind. 

God is Spirit and man was to be "created in 
His image or likeness." This means that real or 
perfected man was eventually to be spiritual. If 
Grod is the Author of all^ then all truth and knowl- 
edge must come from God. If we are all God's 
children it must have been part of the plan that 
we be educated in all wisdom and knowledge, and 
that teachers were to be provided in accordance 
with the needs and progress of the world. 

Jesus Christ and the prophets and messengers 
preceding Him were educators ; divine educators 
sent from God, who is the Great Principal of the 



CAPITAL AND LABOR 185 

world school ! While every human being may be- 
come a recipient of instruction direct from the 
Fountain Head, yet the world in general needs 
guidance to the path which leads up to the abiding 
place of the Most High. The individual human 
relation of parent and child presents the necessity 
of being educated from infancy to maturity ; it is 
a miniature and sign of like relation between the 
race and its Father. 

The reality of higher teachings and how to se- 
cure such is indicated in the memorable words of 
Jesus Christ. I repeat : "Seek ye first the King- 
dom of God and His righteousness." The teach- 
ings of all ages have declared the coming of the 
Kingdom of God on earth and that we could not 
enter therein unless we were "born again — born 
of the Spirit." 

As a summary statement, then, there is only 
one course to pursue in solving not only the prob- 
lem of Capital and Labor, but all problems, 
whether great or small, which affect human con- 
ditions. Appeal to the Higher Nature of 
Man ! The Keal Man. This can be achieved 
only through obedience to the divine command ; 
again repeated and again emphasized : "Seek ye 
first the Kingdom of God, in spirit and in truth," 
thus, most effectually, "striking at the roof' of all 
existing conditions. All other plaas for reform- 
ing the world are superficial and futile. 

By obeying this incomparable Christ command 



186 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

and His simple teachings, mankind will establish 
itself upon the True Foundation. Then all present 
methods of reform in intemperance, suffrage, 
greed, dishonesty, marital relations, society, gov- 
ernment, etc., will become obsolete ; mere dreams 
lost and left behind in the grand and wonderful 
upward progress and development. The ultimate 
life, the outcome, the effect of the inevitable, un- 
changeable law^ emanating from the Supreme, 
THE Infinite Cause, is to become a reality. 

"Be ye therefore perfect, as also your heavenly 
Father is perfect." (Matt. 5 : 48 Vul.) 

This great problem of Capital and Labor will 
be solved ; not through mere intellectual effort or 
superficial scheme, however, but through obedi- 
ence of the divine command revealed to the higher 
consciousness of true men of this great day. ^ 



HERESY 

THE CRAPSEY CASE THE TRUTH OF IT 



CHAPTER IV 




N considering the subject of heresy par- 
ticular reference is made to the recent 
heresy trial of Rev. Dr. Algernon S. 
Crapsey, a fair discussion of which 
shows or tends to show that the Church is in re- 
ality more heretical than is true of Dr. Crapsey. 
"Crapsey guilty ; is sentenced to suspension. 
Verdict of Ecclesiastical Court which tried minister 
delivered to the defendant in Rochester today. 
Must conform to Apostles' Creed." These and 
other words were in the glaring headlines of the 
daily papers. The above judgment on appeal has 
been aflSrmed, deposing Dr. Crapsey, but he has 
resigned from the Episcopal Church and from his 
especial charge, the congregation in Rochester 
with which he was so long associated and by whom 
he was so much loved. 

To the pertinacious sticklers for mere form and 
the literal, for the "letter (which) killeth" includ- 
ed in the Apostles' and the Nicene Creeds, it is of 
no consequence, perhaps, that the far worse than 
absurd creed-dogma was invented, formulated and 
promulgated by a wicked and corrupt priest-craft 
of the dark ages, caring more for worldly wealth, 
voluptuous living, intriguing and political power, 



188 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

than for being in even the slightest degree mind- 
ful of the divine commands of the lowly Nazarene 
— the Christ whom they falsely professed to be- 
lieve in and follow. 

Dr, Crapsey is right and to be commended for 
refusing to longer stultify sense, a decent regard 
for heavenly commands, and reason, by holding to 
false and impossible doctrines ; but why does he 
want to remain in a false organization, or with 
hypocritical, false ministers of Christ — a church 
system which has become Christian in name only ? 
Could he hope to rescue it? If not an altogether 
hopeless task, is success more than very remote? 
So long as his church, which maybe less Christian 
than Shintoism is, chooses to hold to such criminal 
folly ; for such it is to defy Biblical divine com- 
mands, prohibiting vain interpretation of what was 
to be explained in manner and time as described 
by Christ in His Book of Revelation,* it has a 
right to refuse membership to one who disagrees 
with it, even though that one who disagrees with 
the church happens to care more for God's Truth 
than man-made rules and regulations of church 
procedure and government — who prefers the re- 
ality of Truth to mere superficial form and pre- 
tence. 

"Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swal- 
low a camel. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites ; because you make clean the outside 
♦See chapter on The Bible. 



HERESY 189 



of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full 
of rapine and uncleanness." (Matt. 23 : 24-25.) 
"They will put you out of the synagogues : yea, 
the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will 
think that he doth a service to God. And these 
things will they do to you ; because they have 
not known the Father, nor Me." (John 16 : 2-4, 
Douay Vul.) 

It appears that Dr. Crapsey has been convicted 
of the high crime and suspended because of his 
dissent to the regulation belief of the church as 
per the five specifications in the bill of particulars 
of dogmatic belief, for no single one of which is 
there warrant in the Bible, as follows : 

"1. The doctrine that our Lord Jesus Christ is 
God, the Saviour of the world, as contained and 
enunciated in the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene 
Creed, and as set forth, indicated and declared in 
the book of Common Prayer of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in the United States of America." 

In the light of Truth one may be justified in ex- 
claiming "wickedly absured" ! It is difficult to con- 
ceive of a more false declaration. God is Lord 
only. Christ is the Word (Light of the Truth of 
God reflected to the world through the perfect 
lamp Jesus of Nazareth) made flesh. (John 1 : 1- 
14.) Christ distinctly showed in His parabolic 
utterances and elsewhere that He was the Sonship 
Spirit of God, and that God alone was the Lord 
of the Vineyard — indeed of all the worlds in the 



190 VHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

universe. (See Psa. 86 : 10 ; Isa. 37 : 16 ; 44 : 8 ; 
45:22; 46:9; John 4 : 24 ; Gal. 3:20; and 
Rev. 21 : 3-7, which refers to the coming of the 
manifestation of God Himself, and verses 22-23 
clearly referring to both God Himself and the 
Lamb (Christ), making irrefutable distinction 
between God the Father and the Son ! 

Christ rebuked the certain ruler for merely call- 
ing Him "Good Master," saying : "Why calleth 
thou me good? None is good, save One, that is, 
God." (Luke 18: 19.) 

There are many places in the Bible where the 
declaration is made plain and clear that God Him- 
self is the only Saviour ! (2 Sam. 22 : 3 ; Psa. 
106 : 21 ; Isa. 45 : 21 ; 49 : 26 ; 1 Tim. 4 :10 ; Ti- 
tus 2: 10; Jude 25.) 

I appeal to the good sense of all fair minded 
men and women in now asking if it is not unmis- 
takably true that the church is wrong in declaring 
Christ as other than a Messenger of God in the 
station of the Son ? 

There is absolutely no warrant in the Bible or 
elsewhere for contemplating Jesus as God ! 

''2. The doctrine that our Lord Jesus Christ 
was conceived by the Holy Ghost, as contained 
and enunciated in the Apostles' Creed and the Ni- 
cene Creed, as set forth, indicated and declared 
in the book of Common Prayer of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in the United States of America." 

The church is hopelessly muddled over this 



HERESY 191 



question —a very simple question though it is. 
''Christ," the ''Word," as ah*eady explained, was 
the immaculate conception of the spirit of and 
from God^ representing the Sonship manifestation 
of God — not the physical body. God's laws re- 
garding physical things, however, are just as per- 
fect and divine as His spiritual creations or con- 
ditions, but everything in its place. God is 
Perfection, it goes without saying, and necessarily 
His Laws are perfection. It is inconceivable that 
Perfect God would or could do ^perfection, but 
after all, if the physical body of Jesus was or 
could be conceived in the body of the virgin (sig- 
nifying purity ; but not necessarily that she had 
never known a man) Mary, contrary to the laws 
in such case made and provided by an AUwise 
Providence, what does it matter? The essential 
lesson for us is this, that Jesus Christ taught us 
to be born of the Spirit and live the life of truth 
as a little child. 

The church is woefully in error in failing to 
properly differentiate between "Jesus"and ''Christ." 
Jesus was the man, the human temple in which 
was manifested the Word, the Christ of God ! 
(Acts 2:22, 36.) 

"3. The doctrine of the virgin birth of Our 
Lord Jesus Christ, as contained and enunciated 
in the Apostles' Creed and in the Nicene Creed, 
and as set forth, indicated and declared in the 
book of Common Prayer of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church in the United States of America." 



192 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

This is very simple — but we must get away 
from ignorant or subborn prejudice. If one would 
examine and match yarns of delicate vari-colored 
tints, one must not wear dark green glasses. 

The Christ was of course of virgin (pure) birth. 
It was not the physical man Jesus, however, but it 
was the spirit of the love and truth of God reflected 
in the pure heart and life of Jesus. That great One 
said any of the world could have it if they would 
pay the price; that is, follow Him in "the way, 
the truth, the life." That is the only way, our 
only chance for being receptive^ as He was, to 
God's Love and Truth, hence, being saved ; in 
other words, attaining unto the accomplishment 
of our destined purpose ! 

As matter of fact the only Atonement is this : 
Chirst declared "I am the way, the truth, the life 
— follow meP' Now, the only way to follow Him 
is to be in our own individual lives characterized 
with His virtues and actually live the life He 
lived. Anything short of this is a delusion and a 
snare — a base lie ; therefore is not any person or 
church system that ignores this and teaches some- 
thing else,^ falsifier of terrible moment ? The real- 
ity of Vicarious Atonement, then, was in the fact 
of Christ showing manhind the way^ but we must 
follow in His steps, and that means being meek, 
lowly, loving, kind, forgiving, unselfish, ready 
and willing to serve and make sacrifice, even of 
life if need be — such is bringing ourselves within 



HERESY 193 



the saving rule of the truth of Atonement as 
Christ taught it. 

We have considered the birth of "Jesus" and of 
"Christ," and declared the necessity of differen- 
tiating between the human Jesus and the divine 
Christ, in connection with the second question or 
point. 

What a terrible abuse of the Truth of God and 
His Christ ; what a deplorably wicked misleading 
of the people the church is responsible for, in its 
pronounced and determined ignoring of the spirit 
of the Christ teachings, and, in diametrical oppo- 
sition thereto, holding out to the people a measure 
of safety in, as it asserts merely believing in God, 
in Jesus, and in the church, and in the creed dog- 
ma, and so professing openly. The church posi- 
tively had no right to change and grossly modify, 
indeed, practically reverse the requirements as 
laid down so clearly by Christ ! Is it possible to 
point to a greater or more pernicious crime — 
for it not only affects this life here, but the life 
eternal ? 

"4. The doctrines of the resurrection of our 
blessed Lord and Saviour as contained and enun- 
ciated in the Apostles' Creed and in the Nicene 
Creed and as set forth, indicated and declared in 
the book of Common Prayer of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in the United States of America." 

It is hypocrisy, sniveling cant to employ the 
words "our blessed Lord and Saviour" and go on 



194 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

continually disregarding His definition of "minis- 
ters" (Matt. 20 : 26-28) — the true minister is ser- 
vant of all. "For even the Son of man came not 
to be ministered unto, but to minister." (Mark 
10 : 45 and His commands in the Sermon on the 
Mount.) 

Christ made unmistakably plain the reality of 
the Resurrection, but the church has persistently 
made good the prophecy of Christ as to having eyes 
and seeing not, and ears and hearing not. There 
never was a more foolish proposition, nay, more, 
deliberate fraud, than the church contention that 
the physical body of Jesus was, or was to be res- 
urrected and rise up into Heaven. Christ declared 
flesh and blood could not inherit the Kingdom of 
Heaven. "A spirit hath not flesh and bones." (Lu. 
24:39.) The spiritual realm is the abode of spirits, 
not of fleshly bodies. (1 Cor. 15 :50.) Christ's 
words were clear and plain enough to the thought- 
ful and sincere. His prophecy of His arising in 
three days had reference to prophetical days — 
not to ordinary 24 hour days (there are days of 
five different durations mentioned in the Bible ; 
see chapter on Symbolic Words) , for He declared 
*'I must work the works of Him that sent me, 
while it is day : the night cometh, when no man 
can work. As long as I am in the world I am the 
Light of the world." (John 9 : 4-5.) 

The day-time, obviously, was the period of His 
being on earth ; the night-time, the period lapsing 



HERESY 195 



from His departure unto the time of the coming 
of another manifestation or messenger of God. 
Thus the third great religious revelation^ counting 
from His time — Christianity^ was to be the real 
Cheat Day of Resurrection : First day or cycle or 
dispensation, Christianity ; second, Mohammedan- 
ism ; and the great day oftheLord, the third, and 
then was to appear the Lord of the Vineyard and 
His Christ or Sonship Spirit to establish the King- 
dom of God on earth (Rev. 11 : 15) and to judge 
all men according to their works. This was to be 
the day of Resurrection, the last great day, the 
day of "Most Great Peace" of far longer duration 
than the combined period of all former days or 
dipensations from Adam down ! 

"For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou re- 
turn" (Gen. 3 : 19), was written of the physical 
body of man, his earthly dwelling place or "temple," 
and not of the real man which was made to endure 
through the endless future ages. The absurdity 
of the church doctrine which holds to the proposi- 
tion that the physical body of Jesus arose and as- 
cended into Heaven, and that the physical body of 
man is to arise on the day of Judgment and Re- 
surrection, is clearly apparent when we contem- 
plate the following scientific facts : the body of 
man is not the same body it was five minutes pre- 
viously ! And it is claimed to be indisputable fact 
that a human body is entirely changed and new 
in every single year of earthly existence ! Accord- 



196 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

ing to that, a man of seventy has had seventy en- 
tirely new and different bodies 1 When we think of 
it, is it not ridiculously strange that the highly 
educated theological and clerical strength of the^ 
world, even though barren of spirituality, should 
have held to such nonsense so long? 

"5. The doctrine of the blessed trinity, as con- 
tained and enunciated in the Apostles' Creed and 
the Mcene Creed and as set forth, indicated and 
declared in the book of Common Prayer of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States 
of America." 

On this subject of the Trinity the church is 
equally dense in ignorance and misconception. By 
its doctrine of the Trinity the church makes itself 
in reality polytheistic, and polytheism is, to all 
intents and purposes, practically the same as 
Egyptian or Roman paganism ! 

In the remarks hereinbefore on specification 
number one, references to Biblical quotations are 
given, which prove the oneness and singleness of 
God! Any other doctrine, idea or belief is abso- 
lutely anti-God's Truth. 

Here is the real truth regarding the Trinity. It 
is from Divine source and, of course, is beyond 
human contravention : 

"As to the question of the Trinity, know, O 
advancer unto God, that in each one of the cycles 
wherein the Lights have shown forth upon the 
horizons (i. e., in each prophetic dispensation), 



HERESY 197 



and the forgiving Lord hath revealed Himself on 
Mount Paran (see Hab. 3 :3, etc.), or Mount Si- 
nai, or Mount Seir (see Ezek. 35), there was nec- 
essarily three things, the Giver of the Grace, and 
the Grace, and the recipient of the Grace ; the 
Source of the Effulgence, and the Effulgence, and 
the recipient of the Effulgence : the Illuminator, 
and the Illumination, and the illuminated. Look 
at the Mosaic cycle — the Lord, and Moses, and 
the Fire, (i, e., the Burning Bush), the intermedi- 
ary ; and the Messianic cycle, the Father, and the 
Son, and the Holy Ghost, the intermediary ; and 
in the Mohammedan cycle, the Lord and the Apos- 
tle (or Messenger, Mohammed) , and Gabriel (for, 
as the Mohammedans believe, Gabriel brought the 
revelation from God to Mohammed) , the interme- 
diary. Look at the sun and its rays, and the heat 
which results from its rays : the rays and the heat 
are but two effects of the sun, but inseparable from 
it and sent out from it ; yet is the sun One in its 
essence, unique in its real identity, single in its 
attributes, neither is it possible that anything 
should resemble it. Such is the Essence of the 
Truth concerning the Unity, the real doctrine of 
the Singularity, the undiluted reality as to the 
(Divine) Sanctity." (Abdul Baha. Translated by 
Professor Browne of Cambridge University.) 

Jesus Christ and all the prophets of God have 
invariably insisted that God, to whom only we 
should pray, was all in all, and they have been 
simply the teachers of the Way unto God. 



198 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

Should any one question any of the statements 
affirmed in this chapter, or book, let them consult 
''Mosheim's Church History," Murdock's Transla- 
tion, together with the irrefutable authorities^ 
therein cited. 

Here is the trouble. It is practically the same 
with the church as it is with ''Christian Science," 
which, in reality, is neither Christian nor science, 
save in part. When the founder of that wonder- 
ful Dowie-like-movement growth, has found some 
follower bright enough to see that "all is not gold 
that glitters" and presumes to question any of her 
tyrannical dogmatism, that person is promptly 
read out with "the drum's march of the rogue," so 
to speak, with commands from said founder that 
the offending expelled one be treated mentally 
not for good! The entire scheme is for money 
gain. They are a thrifty set, but without doubt, 
have done much good in the world — more uncon- 
sciously than consciously, however. In the church 
there is a certain parallel. For many centuries 
the pronounced idea has been that you must take 
salvation just as the church, in its disobedient at- 
titude, has seen fit to impose from the standpoint 
of human avarice and selfishness and bigotry, and 
it, the church, too, stands far more for money- 
making, than for growth and administration 
spiritually ! 

There is no doubt but a majority of the follow- 
ers of Mrs. Eddy, whom the writer knew in Lynn, 



HERESY 199 



Massachusetts, when she boasted on the front of 
the house her sign of "Clairvoyant Medium (or 
Healer"), are sincere, if in certain fundamental 
and great principles they are very greatly deceived 
and misled ; and I am sure that quite a majority 
of both clergy and laity of the church are honest 
and sincere — according to the light and spiritual 
unfoldment possessed. However it is high time 
for all to realize that the service of God and of 
mammon can never go hand in hand together. The 
clergy should drop their commentaries and false, 
presuming "notes," and turn to and study the Bible 
itself ! In that great Book of books they will find, 
if they will turn to the Book of Daniel, divine 
notice to the world that the Truth, contained in 
the remarkable parable, symbol and allegory, 
would not be known until the coming of a Great 
One at a certain time, dates of whose coming are 
given in that Book of Daniel, and now understood. 
Then if they will turn to Revelation 4 and 5 they 
will find by Whom and how the Truth was to be 
given to the world. In other portions of this 
wonderful Book the danger of ignoring or muti- 
lating this book of prophecy is made very plain. 
Christ made it also very plain that in the mean- 
time we were to be governed by the all-suflSciency 
of the Sermon on the Mount, Has the church 
obeyed the divine command 9 No ! The parent 
church has been diabolically false from as far back 
as the 4th century, and the protestant church has 



200 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

been, perhaps, equally false. One is reminded of 
the long suffering Puritan Fathers who came to 
these shores to escape unjust oppression, and forth- 
with put themselves up as equally tyrannical op- 
pressors, as fioger Williams and many others could 
doubtless testify, were they here in the flesh. 

In a way the church is like an unjust judge who 
has ignorantly and erroneously rendered a false 
decision, but rather than admit manfully his mis- 
take, he permits any amount of suffering to result 
from his impotent action. Has the church been 
so long committed to stupid falsehood as to be 
powerless to correct and purify itself ? 

It is not always easy to realize one's own faults. 
The church has been in gross darkness and error 
augmenting so gradually and for so many centur- 
ies, there is no great wonder because of its cal- 
lousness to common sense and truth. For the 
heads of church government there is not so much 
blame, after all, as sympathy and pity. In the pre- 
paration for their professional calling the educa- 
tional requirements from school-boy days all the 
way along through the college and theological 
training they have had precious little time for or- 
iginal thought, even had they the power. The 
systempf training, beginning before their develop- 
ment for much serious thinking, has necessarily 
kept them hustling for all they were worth, cram- 
ming full of traditional m^5-info^mation. Why 
should they, under such circumstances and con- 



HERESY 201 



ditions, have any doubt of the infallibility, as they 
are taught by those they naturally look up to, of 
the church system they are entering ? After grad- 
uation, then it is a question of getting a charge, 
and naturally as large and important and wealthy 
a church as possible. Then, has the work become 
lighter? No. And the chances are that they have 
got to continue hustling, perhaps harder than ever, 
to maintain their position and in meeting the con- 
stantly growing claims made upon them in pulpit 
and pastoral work. Consequently what chance is 
there of their being able to perceive the error of 
their position? How can we expect them to trace 
back to the corrupt sources, the serious mis- 
takes, yea, worse than mistakes — deliberate frauds 
in dogma and creed ? 

Occagionly a Dr. Crapsey arises and heroically 
strives to break the fetters. No matter how 
honest his convictions and motives, or what great 
conceptions he has of truth, which his church is 
in positive conflict with, he is forthwith a heretic 
and must be adjudged criminally ( ?) Guilty ! 

The writer has talked with able pastors of New 
York's most powerful and influential churches who, 
for instance, made the astounding admission that 
they did not know the entire life, works, mission 
and teachings of Jesus Christ predicated and 
were the preparing of the world for the coming of 
the Kingdom of God, to be established on the 
earth by the Lord of the Vineyard Himself ; in 



202 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

fact that they had in reality never considered 
Christ as a prophet, when, clearly enough and in 
very fact, He was the greatest Prophet the world 
has ever had! 

Of a truth churchianity and Christianity are two 
entirely different things — two opposite extremes 
with a wide gulf between ! 

Now then, all considered, is it not clear that if 
Dr* Crapsey was guilty, he was guilty of heresy 
to a false and heretical church, which is itself de- 
plorably guilty of heresy to Christ and His True 
Church ? Is it not perfectly plain that the church 
which has convicted Dr. Crapsey, is itself far 
more in need of being converted to God and His 
Christ, than is the one struggling to throw off the 
shackles of error and falsehood ? 

As an illustration showing the result of a certain 
line of erroneous thought on the part of the clergy 
and the apparent ease attending the clerical atti- 
tude in its very general state of spiritual deadness, 
note the following : 

According to newspaper accounts, the rector of 
an Episcopal church in Brooklyn, in a defence of 
Dr. Crapsey, well says : "I am a minister of God 
before I am a minister of the Episcopal church 
and as such I repudiate the recent manner of ar- 
riving at truth in the case of Dr. Crapsey." But 
when he says : 'The only test of truth is human 
experience," the prompting is to suggest a halt, 
a right about face and a profoundly careful con- 



HERESY 203 



sideration of the reality of matters and principles 
involved. The liberality and broadness of idea 
he advances in declaring for the human experience 
*'of the race through many generations in many 
places" rather than the "experience of one individ- 
ual or one generation," is commendable, but it 
would have been more commendable had he said 
all races instead of ''the race," unless indeed he 
means all mankind by ''the race." He continues : 
"What human experience has found in that way 
to be true is divine truth, to whose authority alone 
a man may submit and still be a free child of God." 
While there is in a certain sort of way and from a 
peculiarly inadequte and limited sense, a minute 
degree of truth manifest in the foregoing, yet in 
the larger and truer aspect, the reverend gentle- 
man seems to have as incomplete a conception of 
the matter as he does regarding what it means to 
be and what is involved in being in very truth a 
minister of God, as he claims to be. Jesus Christ 
clearly defined a "minister," as stated, and the 
question now is, how many ministers of the Christ- 
ian Church answer to that definition ? 

Now the "test of truth" in the mind of and re- 
ferred to by this rector, has to do, it is evident, 
with human interpretation and dictum of church 
law and government, rather than with the Truth 
of God^er se. Not only is it peculiarly true that 
man is not, and cannot be until he becomes perfect 
and in the enjoyment of oneness and intercom- 



204 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

munication with God, able, as viewed from the 
consciousness of logic, science and masterful com- 
mon-sense, to interpret, apprehend and promul- 
gate Truth, but such information and instruction is 
veritably contained in the Bible of revealed Truth 
and mandate from God for all the world for all 
time ! 

Indeed the Bible, as elsewhere considered, con- 
tains the further and explicit information that no 
man was or would be able to discern the truth in- 
volved in the doctrinal points in such voluminous 
dispute in the different branches of the church, 
and many other questions embraced in the Biblical 
symbology, but God would send a Great Messenger 
to make such explanations ! Notwithstanding that 
notitication and the Command that we attend first 
of all to our individual regeneration ; to the over- 
coming of self and the world and be guided by 
such rules and principles as are laid down in the 
Sermon on the Mount, the sad fact is this, that 
these things our theologians and clergy have to- 
tally ignored and disobeyed ! 

Is it not high time the ministers know or ap- 
preciate what it means to be a "minister" — a veri- 
table minister of God and His Christ? Is it not 
lamentable if theologians and ministers have to be 
informed by laymen that it is a woeful perversion 
of the Christ and general Biblical teachings to hold 
that human experience has found or can find and 
determine what is divine truth from human in- 



HERESY 205 



terpretation when the Bible itself declares that 
such is impossible? Why should they have to be 
informed of what the Bible enjoins ; what religion 
in fact is ; what in reality Jesus Christ stands for 
and that all divine Truth is revealed by God 
through His prophets and messengers as teachers or 
educators to mankind in every age or dispensa- 
tion, and that the body-politic of the church is 
wrong on practically all great questions ? 

If there ever was justification for such great re- 
formers of and out from the church as Knox, 
Calvin, Luther and others, as there certainly was, 
there is far more need now. 

It is disobedience of the Christ commands that 
is responsible for the church misconception con- 
cerning Religion, the Bible, Atonement, Baptism, 
Resurrection, Trinity, etc., etc. 



ELEVEN QUESTIONS TO NOTED 
RELIGIONISTS 

COULD ANY OF THEM ANSWER ? 



CHAPTER V 




N 1904 the following eleven questions 
were propounded to a carefully selected 
list comprising thirty-five of the lead- 
ing and most noted theologians, clergy- 
men and college presidents of the country : 

1. Will you give the essence of the Teachings 
of Jesus Christ ? 

2. To what extent did Jesus Christ ratify and 
confirm the Prophecies ? 

3. What is the reality of meaning as to Resur- 
rection ? 

^ 4. How do you interpret Deut. 18 : 18? 

5. How do you interpret Dan. 12 : 9-13? 

6. How do you interpret the 24th chapter of 
Matthew ? 

7. How do you interpret Zech. 6 : 12-13, Matt. 
16 : 27-29 and Luke 22 : 69? 

8. How do you interpret Deut. 33 : 2 ? 

9. How do you interpret Isaiah 9 : 6-7 and 
Dan. 10: 13? 

10. How do you interpret the 5th chapter of 
Revelation ? 

11. How do you interpret Titus 2 : 13? 



ELEVEN QUESTIONS TO RELIGIONISTS 207 

Accompanying the foregoing questions was the 
following letter to each of the thirty-five : 

*'My dear sir : 

Begging your kind indulgence. I am en- 
deavoring to collect the views of a few of the 
ablest and most renowned Theologians and Clergy- 
men touching some of the spiritual teachings be- 
lieved to be of much importance. 

I shall appreciate very highly your valuable 
contribution to a symposium along that line. Such 
is designed to be of great help to earnest and sin- 
cere Bible students and Christians. 

Will you be good enough to favor me with your 
views, by giving such answers as may be conven- 
ient, in replying to the inclosed eleven questions, 
in whole or in part ? 

Very respectfully your obedient servant, 

Arthur P. Dodge.'' 

Most of the letters received in reply were de- 
clinations because of press of work and inability 
to give suflScient attention to the subject. Only 
the following few are here quoted : 

.^ , . ''New York, March 22, 1904. 

My dear sir : 

I long ago resolved never to take part in any 
symposium of any kind so long as I remain Editor 
of "The Christian Advocate." Consistency re- 
quires me to decline in this instance. 
Sincerely yours, 

J. M. Buckley, (D.D.).'' 



208 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

'^The University of Chicago, 

Founded by John D. Kockefeller. 

OfEce of the President, 

^^' . Chicago, March 28th, 1904. 

Mv dear sir : — ^ 

Inasmuch as the answers to your questions 
would involve the writing of several volumes, ( !) 
and inasmuch as I am unable at present on account 
of illness to do my regular work, I am sure you 
will kindly excuse me from undertaking to com- 
ply with your request of March 23rd. 

Yours very truly, William R. Harper." 

''Tufts College, Mass., March 22 1904. 
My dear Mr. Dodge : 

I have your letter of March 18th, enclosing 
questions. I do not think that I can reply to 
your questions for two reasons. First, I do not 
regard myself as a Biblical exegete. The passages 
of scripture for which you desire interpretation 
would require a great deal of research on my part 
and when it was done I fear it would have little 
value. And the second reason is that I am too 
busy to give the time even to write out an article 
which would properly find a place in a symposium. 
Very truly yours, E. H. Capen.'' 

"Saint Andrew's Church, 

New York, March 22, 1904. 
Rev. and dear sir : — 

I am so very busy that desiring never so 
much to be courteous I cannot for the life of me 
take time to answer your eleven questions. 



ELEVEN QUESTIONS TO RELIGIONISTS 209 

My answer to the first is The Fatherhood of 
God, and the dignity of man.' 

The texts you cite are ail, I take it, disputed 
ones of our Lord's second coming. I believe the 
teaching of a second advent for purpose of a mil- 
lennial reign to be an allowable interpretation of 
certain portions of scripture, and a rational belief, 
but not necessarily an interpretation exclusive of 
another and dissimilar one, and of a belief directly 
the antipode of this I have defined. Personally, I 
look for the coming of Jesus to close the account 
of sin and shame and gather His elect into Heaven, 
and His reign on earth neither attracts nor concerns 
me much,{!) 

Yours truly, Geo. R. Van de Water." 

Ti/r J iv/r T^ J "Chicao^o, March 25, 1904. 

My dear Mr. Dodge : ^ ' 

This is the 7th week of our Chautauqua work 
here (Florida) and one more week to come. With 
my other writing and engagements it does not 
seem wise to attempt more. Thanking you for in- 
vitation to contribute to your.valuable publications ; 
Respectfully, (Dr.) H. W- Thomas." 

Dear Sir • 'Ithaca, N. Y., Mar. 24, 1904 

In reply to your letter of the 18th iust., 
Andrew D. White is spending the Winter in 
Europe, and I hardly think he would care to 
UBndertake the matter which you propose. 

Very truly yours, A. W. Newberry." 



210 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

"113 West 40th Street, 
Dear Sir : ^^^ "^^^^^ March 23rd, 1904. 

Bishop Potter begs me to acknowledge your 
enclosure of the 16th inst., and to express his re- 
gret that his engagements will not permit him to 
comply with your request. 

Very truly yours, G. F. Nelson, perD." 

"Fifth Avenue Baptist Church, 

New York, March 25, 1904. 
Dear Sir : 

Replying to your favor of March 23rd, en- 
closing a list of eleven questions upon which you 
ask an expression of my opinion, I beg to say that 
I am extremely busy and shall not be able to find 
time to give the questions the consideration their 
importance demands. I therefore beg of you to 
excuse me from attempting to aaswer them. 

Very truly yours, R. P. Johnston." 

"Yale University, Secretary's Office, 

New Haven, Conn., March 22, 1904. 
My dear sir : — 

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your note of 
March 18th enclosing a series of questions with 
reference to the teachings of Christ and the ful- 
filment of prophecy. The questions are of such 
importance that I would not be willing to answer 
them unless I could give the matter very careful 
consideration. This is at present impossible with 
the press of work that I have on hand. 



ELEVEN QUESTIONS TO RELIGIONISTS 211 

Regretting my inability to carry out your re- 
quest, I am, Very truly yours, 

Anson Phelps Stokes, Jr." 

"St. Thomas's Church, 

,, , . New York, March 19, 1904. 

My dear sir : 

I regret that it is impossible for me to under- 
take to make such complete replies to your ques- 
tions as would be satisfactory to myself, on ac- 
count of the unusual demands upon my time at 
this part of the Church year. 

Very faithfully yours, Ernest M. Stires." 

Eloquent answers were submitted by Rev. Ad- 
olph Roeder, of Orange, N. J., from the Sweden- 
borgian standpoint, but too lengthy for inclusion 
here, and the present writer will not assume to 
give a synopsis. 

In this matter it was the desire and intention to 
present what was believed would be an interesting 
symposium. Meeting with such poor results in 
both the number and character of returns, the 
data was pigeon-holed until now. 

Answering these questions appeared without 
doubt a ponderous undertaking to those brought 
up in the church of such wholesale division, mis- 
direction and error, yet it will be apparent, after 
due consideration, that, uninfluenced by church or 
other more or less ancient folly, the difficulty in 
volved in making such answers, is not so very 
great after all. It has been said that when the 



212 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

riddle has been solved, really and truly solved, 
the true and only answer or explanation is at once 
apparent and clear enough. Let us see if such is 
not somewhat the case in this most important 
matter. 

THE ANSWERS (?) TO THE ELEVEN QUESTIONS.* 

1. The essence of the teachings of Jesus Christ 
was the showing by His own life, works, teach- 
ings and example the way of attainment for and 
by mankind ; how to become of the Kingdom "pre- 
pared for you before the foundation of the world," 
and for which He taught us to pray in the Lord's 
Prayer. In a word, the whole Christ lesson was 
of the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth, 
and instructing the world of mankind to be pre- 
pared for it. He showed the world the way, the 
only way, when He declared : "I am the Way, 
the Truth, the Life," and "Follow Me !" There 
is no possible doubt but that He meant for us to 
do as He did ; that we must do as He did, that is, 
overcome self and the world, or in other words, 
become characterized with His characteristics I 
And herein lies the positive and only truth re- 
specting the Atonement ! The church misconcept- 
ion and doctrine of vicarious atonement — blood 
atonement — Christ paying the enormous debt of 
the sins of the world with His own great sacrifice, 
is wholly, is absolutely false ! 



* These answers were written oflThand in one evening. 
The indulgence of the reader is requested. 



ELEVEN QUESTIONS TO RELIGIONISTS 213 

2. Jesus Christ fully ratified and confirmed 
the Religious Revelation through Abraham and 
Moses, indeed all revelation and prophecy. 

"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that 
men should do to you, do ye even so to them : for 
this is the law and the prophets." (Matt. 7 : 12.) 
"Have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in 
the bush God spake unto Him saying: 'I am the 
God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the 
God of Jacob?" (Mk. 12:26.) "But when ye 
shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of 
by Daniel the prophet, etc." (Mk, 13 : 14.) "And 
beginning at Moses and all the prophets. He ex- 
pounded unto them in all the scriptures the things 
concerning Himself." (Lu. 24: 27.) "All things 
must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of 
Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms con- 
cerning Me." (v. 44) "That the scriptures might 
be fulfilled." (John 17:12.) 

3. As to the reality of truth concerning the 
great question of Resurrection, see Ffth Day in 
the chapter on Symbolic Words. 

4. The clearly apparent interpretation of Deut. 
18 : 18 is this : that it is prophecy (by Moses, it 
is believed,) made about 1450 B. C. of the coming 
of Jesus Christ, His first coming. The Jews be- 
ing spiritually dead failed to apprehend. How is 
it in this time ? 

5. Dan. 12: 9-13 includes revealed truth of 
and from God, in the form of notification of great 



214 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

coming events and commands to the world of man- 
kind, as follows : 

a. The inner or real significance of Truth con- 
tained in allegory, symbol, parable, etc., of the^ 
revealed Truth of God would remain "closed up 
and sealed" to the understanding of man till a 
certain time, (the "appointed time" in the Douay 
Vulgate,) when the ruling of the earth by the 
lower or beastly human nature would be'supplanted 
by the predominance of the higher or spiritual 
nature of man, at the time of the inauguration of 
the New Heaven and a New Earth referred to in 
Rev. 21. 

b. The date of that great inauguration would 
begin, as is now intelligently and reliably inter- 
preted and understood, and matter of positive 
demonstration, in May, 1844. 

c. Herein is the equivalent to direct command 
from God to man to not seek vain interpretations, 
etc. The church has disobeyed. 

d. The culmination of these great events means 
the reality of the beginning of Resurrection and 
the Day of Judgment ! Christ fully ratified and 
confirmed the words of Daniel, as mentioned, and 
we see that He, Jesus Christ, also fully explained 
in Rev. 5 when and how the Book of God's Truth, 
that is, the seven great religious systems of the 
world would be unsealed, i. e. the explanations be 
made, and this was to be the only possible way 
for man to know the Truth ! Christ told the world 



ELEVEN QUESTIONS TO RELIGIONISTS 215 

to live and do in the meantime according to His 
Sermon on the Mount, but the world has diso- 
beyed again and again. Instead of obeying Christ 
and God the wayward human family has exercised 
its puny imagination in inventing interpretation 
of that which we were^warned man could not know, 
until explained according to Divine Plan as stated, 
and has formulated, perversely and wickedly, the 
worst kind of false creed and dogma respecting 
such great questions as the Immaculate Conception, 
the Trinity, Atonement, Baptism, Resurrection, 
the Second Coming, etc., etc. 

e, The above mentioned "time" was to be the 
time of the separation of the ''sheep" from the 
''goats," the believers from the unbelievers ; the 
purified, tried and tested and faithful, from those 
who persist in doing wickedly. The former will 
understand ; the latter will not understand ! 

f . Of course this is the end of the period of 
''The abomination of desolation" of the Holy Land 
and the scattering and punishment of the Jews, 
the former children of God, who are now, together 
with the gentiles, in fact all peoples from all over 
the world, already returning to and upbuilding the 
Holy Land, so long desolate, and at the same time 
are returning to God's pure Truth, thereby be- 
coming glorified in the happiness of the beginning 
of the Brotherhood of man under the Fatherhood 
of God in oneness and singleness ! 

6. The true interpretation by the promised 



216 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

Authority of the 24th chapter of Matthew is 
simple, is indisputable : 

a. The many trials, tribulations, calamities and 
tests, and other things, like the carrying of the 
Gospel of Truth to all parts of the world, etc., 
were to intervene between Promise and the Great 
Fulfilment. All is fulfilled ! 

b. There would be many false Christ's ; claim- 
ants to being the fulfilment of the prophesied 
Second Coming. According to Jesus Christ any 
one putting forth such claim would in that act it- 
self stamp himself with the seal of fraud. 

c. The true Second Coming of the Christ or 
Sonship Spirit of God would then occur. He com- 
ing as before in a ''cloud" (meaning the human 
body, the earthly conditions which are veils to 
spiritual truth,) with His "angels" (true believers 
in God and His Truth and living the Ufe^) with a 
loud sounding of a ''trumpet" (meaning, as de- 
scribed in Rev. 1 : 10 and elsewhere in the Bible, 
the Voice of the Truth of God.) Coming in a 
manner unexpected, as Christ declared He would 
come, taken with His warning against following 
after anyone coming in His Name, etc, is clear 
proof that when the true Coming occurred He 
would not make proclamation thereof, but would 
require being apprehended and declared, as by 
Peter of old, as a final test of faithfulness, and a 
separation of the sheep from the goats ! Daniel 
explained who would and who would not know ! 



ELEVEN QUESTIONS TO RELIGIONISTS 217 

7. Zechariah 6 : 12-13 is clear and positive 
prophecy of the Second Coming of the Christ or 
Sonship Spirit of God with HisiGreat Father Mani- 
festation of the Lord of the Vineyard, as described 
in chapters 4 and 5 of the famous Book of Revela- 
tion. The Temple of the Lord, in the truest and 
fullest sense, refers to the development, purifica- 
tion and unification of the human heart — the Broth- 
erhood of Humanity for the reception of and one- 
ness with God. It refers also to the great day of 
''Most Great Peace" on earth. 

Matt. 16 : 27-28 plainly refers to the Second 
Coming of Christ with the Father Manifestation 
to separate the wheat from the chaff, the sheep 
from the goats, the believers from the unbelievers ; 
to ''Judge every man according to his worhsT 

Luke 22 : 69 can be interpreted only as refer- 
ring to the Second Coming of Christ on earth when 
He would be on the right hand of and take from 
Him Who would sit upon the great throne of 
spiritual loftiness and glory, the explanations as 
per Rev. 5 and give them forth to the world of 
humanity. 

8. Deut. 33 : 2 is explained as follows and in 
the only possible way of true interpretation, as 
perceived by those of purity and spirituality : 
Moses here refers to God's revelation through him, 
Moses, at Mount Sinai, in Arabia ; then propheti- 
cally of the revelation through Jesus Christ at 
Mount Seir, in Palestine ; then through Moham- 



218 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

med at Mount Paran, in the land of Ishmael, and 
then, most important of all, and to which all 
pointed with the unerring finger of Truth, to the 
Great Manifestation of the Father Himself, the 
Mighty God, the supreme Lord of the Vineyard, 
the King of Kings, and then through Him Who 
was to be the fulfilment of the prophesied Second 
Coming. See answer to No. 9. 

9. Isaiah 9 : 6-7 is clear and irrefutable proph- 
ecy of the Coming of the Lord of the Vineyard 
foretold by Christ in His matchless parables, also 
in His Rev. 11 : 15 and elsewhere. Dan. 10 : 13 
is of the same tenor. *'For a child is born to us, 
and a son is given to us, and the government is 
upon His shoulder : and His Name shall be called 
Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the 
Father of the world to come (vide Rev. 21), the 
Prince of Peace." (Isa. 9 : 6 Douay Vul.) The 
dire poverty of the Christian Church in spiritual- 
ity is made woefully apparent in the fact that it 
has all along interpreted this grand prophecy as 
referring to Jesus Christ, notwithstanding that in 
all of His sublime teachings there can be found 
not a single expression warranting any such con- 
clusion. On the contrary, Christ repeatedly de- 
clared He spoke and worked not of Himself, but of 
the Father, Who sent Him, and He rebuked the one 
who addressed Him as ''Good Master !" He de- 
clared He came not to bring peace, but a sword I 

10. The 5th chapter of Revelation describes in 
beautiful allegory, the manner of making the ex- 



ELEVEN QUESTIONS TO RELIGIONISTS 219 

planations to the world of that which was revealed 
through Daniel and would be closed up and sealed 
till this time. The Great One on the Throne ex- 
plaining the revealed Truth of the seven great re- 
ligious systems of the world was Baha' Ullah 
(meaning in English "God the Most Glorious !"), 
and He Who stood in the midst — "A Lamb as it 
had been slain (crucified") — was to be, and could 
be none other than the Second Coming of Christ, 
the Annointed Sonship Spirit — not the individual 
Jesus, as so many ignorantly believe, taking from 
the Father, the Spirit of Truth, and giving forth 
to the world the long promised explanations of 
all Truth! 

11. Titus 2 : 13, Rev. 11 : 15, and all the Book ; 
the Book of Isaiah from the 35th chapter, and in 
fact all through the Bible, there is thundered forth 
the Glorious Message of the ''Glorious appearing 
of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" 
on this our earth 1 This positively refers to the 
Lord of the Vineyard Manifestation. 

Obviously it will be seen that if the most learned 
divines in the country are unable to answer such 
as the foregoing eleven questions, or if the answers 
would require an extraordinary amount of time, 
or if the writing of many volumes would be re- 
quired for the purpose of recording such answers, 
there must be something most seriously wrong 
with those divines or with the church system 
responsible for their ministry, or both, and such 
must be the case. 



220 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

Were one to be so bold as to question the spir- 
itual proficiency of any of the highly educated and 
very prominent divines here referred to, or to 
any of the grand Doctors of the Church, would 
he not subject himself to a most righteous and 
tremendous denunciation ? 

What can we expect of a chui^ch, or its pastors, 
which are totally ignorant of the fact that Christ 
was a prophet — the greatest the world ever had ? 
Or that is looking for the coming to earth of the 
physical body of Jesus riding on a rain cloud of 
the air? Or that pretends to believe that the same 
physical body of Jesus arose bodily into the spir- 
itual realms, when Christ distinctly taught that 
flesh and blood did not inherit the Kingdom of 
Heaven ? Or that teaches wickedly false doctrines 
regarding Atonement, Baptism, Resurrection, 
Trinity, Salvation? Verily the tree is known by 
its fruit. And verily, and most humbly and re- 
spectfully, the so-called ministers of the ''Church 
of Christ," who claim and possibly believe they 
are ''called of God" to the ministry, are hereby 
referred to Christ's definition of the true Minister 
in Mk. 19 : 35-45, and to the Apostle Paul's defi- 
nition Gal. 1: 11,12, 15-19; Heb. 5 : 12- 14, 
and 1 Cor. 9:13, 14, 16, 18, 19. 

As could have been said in the time of Christ 
nineteen centuries ago, and as is in order to say 
today. Which will you do, follow the Church or the 
Truth of God? 



THE FORCEFUL, THE ERRATIC 
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW 



CHAPTER VI 




EOPLE are born into the world in all 
sorts of physical deformity, in many 
hues of mental deformity, and with no 
sort of spiritual development or pro- 
clivity. It has been said that all members of man- 
kind are insane, and that insanity with all people 
is only a matter of degree. 

Of all malformed creatures in or out of menag- 
eries, this Mr. George Bernard Shaw is the limit ! 
A few years ago tliere was a young woman, pos- 
sessed with a morbid craving for notoriety, who 
went to writing about her dear friend the Devil 
and her happy home in hell. 

1 have wondered if Mr. Shaw is afflicted with 
that sort of disease, or if he really is as mentally, 
morally and spiritually depraved as his efforts to 
so convince the world make him out to be ? At 
all events his exhibitions, to which jsuch great 
publicity is given, stamp his as a very sad case of 
mental, moral and spiritual degeneracy. Mental 
degeneracy because of a lack of the rudder of 
reason and sense ; moral degeneracy because of the 
wanting of inclination for true guidance ; spiritual 
degeneracy because of the conspicuous absence of 
true parental reverence or respect, of genuine re- 



222 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

cognition of the law of cause and effect, of due 
apprehension of the real, the true, the divine 
Fatherhood, We have asylums for the insane 
from whom we fear physical violence. Why not 
incarcerate in prison asylums those who are far 
more dangerous and who do far more injury to the 
public by the wide publicity given to their insane, 
irrational and indecent attacks upon all that which 
is incomparably true, grand and holy? Assailing 
a false and degenerate church is one thing ; but it 
is quite another, a far different thing, and a thing 
which cannot be tolerated, the poisoning the minds 
of the young and unthinking by insanely, fool- 
ishly, wickedly railing against God and His Im- 
mortal Truth ! 

It is an old truism that one man, viciously in- 
clined, can do more damage than can be repaired 
by ten good men. There has ever been more teach- 
ing of evil than of good. The converse of that 
statement should be true. The bad is self-teaching, 
while the good and pure needs great and constant 
urging. Everyone ought to be constantly, earnest- 
ly devoted to the promulgation of actions and 
lessons, of that living and doing which is naturally 
calculated to appeal to the higher — not the lower 
nature of mankind. 

If Mr. Shaw sees nothing of profound truth and 
magnificent beauty in Biblical symbology expressed 
in the spiritual language of the "Burning Bush" 
and in many other remarkable expressions ; if he 



THE FORCEFUL, ERRATIC G. B. SHAW 223 

is dead to the truth of the eternal law ot cause 
and effect which clearly and irrefutably declares 
that our causation must of necessity possess all of 
the qualities of human life, experience and obser- 
vation, why does he liken God to a mere force or 
universal power, which, evidently, he would have 
us believe was as dead or lacking in individuality, 
intelligence, personality and identity as is the 
principle of mathematics? Why does he under- 
take to teach the world of or concerning God, of 
Religion, of the Bible or as to whether it is true 
or false in its contents ? Why assume to teach of 
what he is entirely ignorant? 

It is contended that a careful perusal of this 
little book will show that Mr. Shaw and his like 
are wrong in their loudly vaunted opinions and 
screeds touching sacred truths —the only matters 
of reality and worth, and that the Truth of God 
and His Word in the Bible, indeed, in all Bibles, 
is beginning to become apparent. 

The frankness, the candor of Mr. Shaw is cer- 
tainly most commendable, and he may not be 
blamed as much as the professional religionists for 
want of knowledge as to the real truth and fact of 
religion. If he seeks to "spread over the week'' 
the best he can of religion, it is far better with 
him than with the professional church people, 
clergy or laity, who wear the mask of sanctimony 
on Sunday and rob their neighbors the rest of the 
week. 



224 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

It is quite probable that Mr. Shaw is honest in 
intent. If so, he goes about showing it in a cur- 
ious way. He says: "I am a voluptian ... I 
always live the pleasantest sort of life I possibly 
can and get as much pleasure out of it as I can. 
What I like is life itself, and that, of course, is the 
genuinely religious view to take. Life is a very 
worthy thing. It is a force outside yourselves." 
What perverted ideas ; what misconceptions re- 
garding religion and life ! Yet he presumes to 
teach ! Even a child knows that the first, the 
primary, the very foundation of Religion applied, 
and of true living, is unselfishness, is love for 
others, rather than self; is willingness to make 
sacrifices for others, and is conscious happiness in 
so doing. He refers to the unholy Crusade wars. 
Why not also refer to the corrupt indulgence sel- 
ling practices, the iniquitous Spanish Inquisition, 
the diabolical torturing and murdering of people 
in Christian ( ?) England for merely try ing to read 
the Word of God ! He must not continually con- 
sider the false and wicked church and man's "In- 
humanity to man" as in anyway a part or parcel 
of the Love and Truth and Knowledge of and from 
God ; that is to say, His Revelation of Religion. 

It may be true that all we know of Personality 
as a characteristic of God lies in the fact of the 
effect observed by and in us ; effect of the Cause 
— God, but we are sure God has Personality as 
well as everything else. We cannot, certainly as 



THE FORCEFUL, ERRATIC G. B. SHAW 225 

yet, grasp the vast limitlessness and glorious 
eternality of God ! But we may and should know 
that He invariably works according to axiomatic, 
unchangeable Law and that man is now as much 
in the process of creation as he was in the time of 
Adam ! There was never a more absurd idea, the 
idea that God ever did or ever could commit error 
or make a mistake ! 

A very great and learned philosopher has said 
that no one could be in fact learned until he was 
conscious of his own vast ignorance! Mr. Shaw 
says: "I am thoroughly satisfied with myself!" 
Have we not much to learn so long as our personal 
ego rules us to that woeful extent? But he also 
says something far better and that which is hard 
to reconcile with other utterances of his : "I do 
not want my religion to be a comfort. I want my 
religion to be a self-respect and courage. I do 
not want comfort, happiness and pleasure ; I 
would rather be dead, . . . until you come to 
understand that your brain is God's brain, and 
your hands God's hands, and unless when your 
brain and hands are worn out, you are perfectly 
willing to say, ^scrap that old brain and all the 
lot, and let the life that is in them go on to a 
young brain and young hands ;' until you have 
come to this, I do not think that you have solved 
the fitial mystery of religion." 

If he does not know the reality of Religion, 
the last quoted words indicate a good spirit and 



226 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

lofty intention, though they scarcely harmonize 
with former quotations from him in this chapter. 
There have been myriads of notable examples 
of men with great intellectual development, who 
did not, because of vain ego, know God and His 
Truth. Verily the intellect cannot of itself 
merely, know ! Something else, as we have ex- 
plained, is required. 



REMARKABLE PROPHECIES FULFILLED 



CHAPTER VU 




-p^^'|HE words of the prophets form not only 
the most important part of the Bible, 
but prove to be of utmost interest, 
thoroughly fascinating interest to true 
Christians, to students, and, indeed,, to all people 
who desire to possess Truth per se; real knowl- 
edge ; Truth in the grandest and fullest sense — 
providing, of course, consideration of the subject, 
study and contemplation is rightly directed and 
pursued. 

To the well informed at least it is clearly obvi- 
ous that the clergy give too little attention to 
prophecy, and that when some semblance of at- 
tention is given, it is so superficial, that no great 
good seems to result. Why? Because, for one 
reason, the professional clerical gentlemen have 
become seriously materialistic and interested along 
other and merely worldly lines, and further, be- 
cause they have continued the errors of wicked 
priest-craft invention, contrary tc|God's commands, 
thus they signally fail as a class in the power or 
gift of spiritual apprehension. 

For many centuries the religious teachers, surely 
overlooking or misunderstanding revealed Truth 
of God, have been presuming to interpret the 



228 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

veiled truths of the Bible in their own way, with 
the result that we have in church circles very pe- 
culiar, indeed, grotesquely inadequate interpreta- 
tion and construction of the magnificent, incom- 
parable truths lurking within the outer portals of 
the allegorical, symbolical, "miraculous" and para- 
bolical stories or lessons in the Bible. It is clear 
that it would have been far better had the religious 
teachers strictly followed the divine example in 
the life, works and teachings of Jesus Christ and 
obeyed His commands, instead of inventing so 
many schemes of creed and dogma, in futile efforts 
for impossible harmony in many great Biblical 
statements, so long as they observed the foolish 
rule of mere literal interpretation of the letter, 
when spiritual interpretation only would serve the 
purpose, as indeed clearly declared in the Bible 
itself. So, having in mind all the circumstances, 
it is no matter of wonder or surprise to see why 
our religious systems have been, during the lapse 
of centuries, gradually getting further and further 
away from, rather than making headway nearer to, 
the reality of the spirit of God's eternal Truth ! 

All along the thought seems to have been too 
common that prophecy had to do only with the 
dead past and nothing to do with the living present. 
But that is all wrong, as we shall see if we ap- 
proach the subject in the right way, and providing 
we overcome the doubting Thomas habit of undue 
prejudice and premature ill-judged rejection. 



REMARKABLE PROPHECIES FULFILLED 229 

Let us consider these suggestions fairly and 
honestly ; let us not turn from them without a full 
and conscientious hearing, nor prejudge the case ; 
let us remember that it is always possible to have 
been in error on a particular point a whole life- 
time ; let us recollect that many times in world 
history one man has been right and all the rest of 
the world grossly wrong ; let us also recollect that 
we cannot harm Truth if we would, for "Truth is 
mighty and will prevail" ; that we can and will 
harm ourselves if we go counter to Truth, and let 
us be determined to be open to proof and con- 
viction. 

Jesus Christ is not generally regarded, especially 
by the clergy, as a prophet, but the real fact is, 
as elsewhere stated, and as readily seen if we care- 
fully consider the subject, that He was the greatest 
of all prophets. 

Not only did Jesus Christ ratify and confirm 
the words of all the prophets before His time (re- 
ferred to and fully specified in another place) , but 
He gave the greatest, most important and far 
reaching of all prophecies in His matchless para- 
bles, "miracles," and remarkable Book of Revela- 
tion through Saint John "the divine, the beloved." 

We will do well to keep before us these words 
of the apostle Paul : "Who also hath made us able 
("fit" according to the Douay Vul. and "sufficient" 
according to Rotherham's lit. trans.) ministers of 
the New Testament ; not of the letter^ but of the 



230 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

spirit: for "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth 
life." (2 Cor. 3:6.) 

Let us consider a few of the prophecies which 
have been already fulfilled, some of them in these^ 
very days. 

PROPHECY OF THE GREAT MOHAMMEDAN NATION 

1898, B. c. 

Genesis 16 : 10-15 is a record of prophecy that 
Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Hagar his bond- 
woman, would be a wild man with his hand against 
every man and every man's hand against him, and 
that he would be blessed of God ; made fruitful ; 
would beget twelve princes, and be made by God 
a great nation. 

History shows that this prophecy was fulfilled 
in the great Mohammedan nation. Mohammed 
the prophet and founder, was a direct descendant 
of Ishmael. It is indeed obvious that many people 
have appeared to lack realization of the fact that 
Abraham was the original founder and father (as 
a divine agent) of Mohammedanism as well as of 
Judaism and Christianity, and it is most lamenta- 
ble that we of the Occident have followed the sorry 
example of the Jews in denying a messenger of 
God. 

EARTH PROCLAIMED, CONTRARY TO SCIENCE, 
A SPHERE 

The book of Job (1520 B. C.,) besides being a 
wonderful lesson in patience and steadfastness in 
the cause of God, is remarkable in other ways. 



REMARKABLE PROPHECIES FULFILLED 231 

At the time this book was written the world be- 
lieved the earth was a plane instead of a sphere^ 
but read these words : "He stretcheth out the 
north over the empty place ("space" in the Douay 
VuL), and hangeth the earth upon nothing T (Job 
26 : 7.) "Whereupon are the foundations (of the 
earth) fastened? Or who laid the corner stone 
thereof?" (Job 38 : 6.) It is evident that these 
words amount to positive statement, contrary to 
the holding of the scientific world of those days, 
affirming the fact of the spherical form of our 
earth. Clearly the earth must be in spherical 
form to hang "upon nothing" in space. 

WAS THIS A PROPHECY 1500 B. C, OF THE 
TELEGRAPH ? 

"He directeth ... His lightning ("light" in 
the Douay) unto the ends of the earth." (Job 37: 
3.) "... a way for a lightning of thunder." 
(38 : 25.) "Canst thou send lightnings, and will 
they go, and will they return and say to thee : Here 
we are?" (v 35 Vulgate.) All considered these 
words of the prophet come close to the foretelling 
of our electric telegraph. They were certainly 
remarkable words to be uttered more than three 
thousand years ago. 

THE PENTATEUCH. 

The Pentateuch authorship ia a subject of vary- 
ing opinion, but the very best authorities hold 
that Moses wrote or inspired the writing of the 



232 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

prophecies in the first five books of the Bible 
(save, perhaps, the Genesis account of Creation, 
and this too is prophecy and will be considered at 
another time), the laws and ordinances, and the 
blessing to the children of Israel. 

At the time of the destruction of Solomon's 
Temple at Jerusalem, 586 B. C, all Bibles, we 
are credibly informed, were destroyed. When 
the Temple was rebuilt, 515 B. C, under the high 
priest Ezra, according to the most learned scholars 
he rewrote the Bible from memory ; i. e. the Pen- 
tateuch. 

JESUS CHRIST FORETOLD BY MOSES 1451 (?) B. C. 

"And the Lord said unto me ... I will raise 
them up a Prophet from among their brethren, 
like unto thee, and 1 will put My words in His 
mouth ; and He shall speak unto them all that I 
shall Command Him.'' (Deut. 18 : 18.) 

Jesus Christ was a Jew from among the Jews 
and was surely the fulfilment of this prophecy. 
Still the Jews denied, persecuted, tortured and 
crucified Him. Why? Because they had lost the 
spirit of the Mosaic teachings in their adherence 
to the mere letter of the law only. Have not we 
Christians made the same great mistake ? 

A WONDERFUL VERSE OF PROPHECY, 1451 ( ?) B. C. 

This is one of the most remarkable verses in 
the Bible. In its far reaching prophecy it covers 
four great world days or religious dispensations 
which were then yet to come ! 



REMARKABLE PROPHECIES FULFILLED 233 

"And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and 
rose up from Seir unto them ; He shined forth 
from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thou- 
sands of saints : from His right hand went a fiery 
law for them (the people of the world)." (Deu. 
33:2.) 

The words "The Lord came from Sinai'' clearly 
refer to the Mosaic day or dispensation itself — 
the manifestation of God through Moses, who ap- 
peared at Mount Sinai in Arabia; *'Seir'' means 
the manifestation of the same spirit of the truth 
and knowledge of God through Jesus Christ, who, 
as well known, appeared at Mount Seir in Pales- 
tine, and the words ''He shined forth from Mount 
Paran" without doubt refers to the appearance of 
the prophet Mohammed at Mount Paran in the 
land of Ishmael. This together with many other 
Bible passages clearly proves that we in the Occi- 
dent have ever been in error in withholding our 
recognition of this prophet of God. 

We must begin over again in contemplating 
the Bible and Religion, and first of all let us make 
huge metaphorical bonfires (real fires would be 
better) of all creeds, dogmas, "commentaries" and 
other false or inadequate interpretations and teach* 
ings in the Name of God and His Truth. 

The verse last quoted is truly a wonderful one, 
especially the latter part, which is most important. 
The words : "And He came with ten thousands of 
saints : from His right hand went a fiery law for 
them" have a remarkable significance, and will be 



234 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

fully explained in another place* with a practical 
demonstration of correct interpretation, vast signifi- 
cation and application. The thoughtful are obliged 
to admit that the prophesied coming of Moses, 
Christ and Mohammed have been fulfilled. The 
Jews denied Christ, and we deny Mohammed. 
Shall we continue to be blind to God's messengers ? 
Nothingmore forcefully illustrates the perverseness 
of mankind than its periodic election as to whom 
of God's messengers it would elect to recognize 
and receive ! 

HUMILIATION AND DISPERSION OF THE JEWS. 

Lev. 26: 38-9 (1491 B.c.),Deut. 28:62-7 (1451 
B. c), Ezek. 5 : 10-15 (595 b. c), and Hosea3 :4 
(785 B. c.) are among the prophecies to the effect 
that the Jews, because of their disobedience to the 
voice of God through His chosen messengers, no- 
tably Christ, should be scattered "among all peo- 
ple from the one end of the earth even unto the 
other." Any one conversant with history knows 
these prophecies have been fulfilled. The Jews 
have been for many centuries wanderers in the 
four corners of the world, a despised people with- 
out a government, without a country, "... a 
reproach among the nations that are round about 
thee, in the sight of all that pass by." What a ter- 
rible punishment has been theirs ! But God is 
surely "justice tempered with mercy." "Afterward 

♦See chapter on Symbolic Words of the Bible (Day) ; Proph- 
ecy ; Signs of the Kingdom, and ^'Eleven Questions." 



REMARKABLE PROPHECIES FULFILLED 235 

shall the children of Israel return, and seek the 
Lord their God and David their king, and shall 
fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter daysP^ 
is already being fulfilled. The Jews, in accepting 
the great truth of these days, are now actually be- 
coming believers in Christ, and they are now be- 
ginning to return to the Holy Land in large 
numbers. 

DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON FORETOLD 713 B.C. 

The destruction of ancient Babylon was proph- 
esied in chapters 13 and 14 of Isaiah. The deso- 
lation of ruinous remains is a gruesome witness to 
the fulfilment of the prophesies. This woeful dis- 
aster was brought upon those people by their own 
sin of departing from God and His Truth. The 
"sun" being darkened meant that the Truth of God 
had become a dead letter in the hearts of the peo- 
ple, and ^'the stars of heaven" not giving their 
light, referred to the clergy, who had become 
dead spiritually in proportion as they became 
powerful intellectually. How do those conditions 
compare with present days ? 

ELECTRIC CARS AND AUTOMOBILES FORETOLD 
700 B. C. 

*'The chariots shall rage in the streets, they 
shall jostle one against another in the broadways : 
they shall seem like torches, they shall run like 
lightnings !" (Nahum 2:4.) These words seem 
to very clearly foretell the coming, twenty- 



236 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

six hundred years later, of our present electric 
cars and automobiles. 

Some hold that this and other prophecies in 
the book of Nahum were fulfilled in Nineveh 
about two thousand. years ago, but the 15th verse 
of the first chapter : '^Behold upon the mountains 
the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that 
publisheth Peace !" seems to bring the fulfilment 
to our times, for never before was there a Divine 
Declaration of the Day of Peace on earth ! Al- 
though many believe Christ brought the Day of 
Peace, He Himself is the best authority to the con- 
trary. He declared that He came not to bring 
peace, but a sword ! His mission was to prepare 
the world for that great reality for which He taught 
us to pray in the Lord's Prayer. On this point it 
is a singular fact that ever since Christ there has 
been an increase in the art and science of war and 
destruction of human beings in each succeeding 
century ! That is hardly compatible with the Day 
of ''Most Great Peace on Earth !" And it is awk- 
ward for us and other Christian nations to be send- 
ing our missionaries to convert Orientals, when 
we are bound to admit that we are less civilized 
than they in the direction of that grand culminat- 
ing period of ''Peace on earth. Good Will to 
men," predicted by Christ and all the prophets ! 
Is it not time to attend more to our own children, 
and less to our nei^rhbor's ? 



REMARKABLE PROPHECIES FULFILLED 237 

RIVER NILE PROPHECY FULFILLED AFTER 

2600 YEARS. 

On Sunday morning, February 10, 1901, New 
York papers contained this cable news : 

"Cairo, Feb. 9. — The dam across the Nile at 
Assouan now reaches from bank to bank, though 
much work remains to be done. Sir John Aird, 
the contractor, has walked across. He is the first 
man ever to cross the Nile dry footed." 

The above was in fulfilment of the remarkable 
prophec}^ by the prophet Isaiah about 700 B. C. 

"And the Lord shall lay waste the tongue of the 
sea of Egypt, and shall lift up His hand over the 
river in the strength of His Spirit : and He shall 
strike it in the seven streams, so that men may pass 
through it in their shoes ("go over dryshod" in 
King Jas. version) (Isaiah 11 : 15 Douay Vul.) 

Many things occur seemingly by chance or by the 
mere will and planning of man, but everything is 
according to law, inexorable law, and often God 
works out things in a singularly mysterious or 
unexpected way. 

Among the subjects for consideration hereafter 
are the remarkable prophecies of a "New Heaven 
and a New Earth" and regarding a "City" "com- 
ing down from God out of Heaven." 

These matters, like apparently unsolvable rid- 
dles, are, when the key of explanation is available, 
resolved into simple, practical everyday matters of 
fact, wholly divested of indeterminateness and 
mystery. 



CAUSE OF CRIME — THE CHURCH 



CHAPTER Vm 






HE able and efficient head of one of 
the greatest police systems of the 
world has declared that the cause of 
the pronounced increase of crime in 
New York, is the influx of criminal classes from 
abroad. He seems to be of the opinion that the 
immigration officials are too lax. 

The above is from an interview, and in the same 
paper appeared an account of another interview, 
one with a prominent district attorney "of twenty 
years experience with crime in its every phase a- 
mong all classes of society," referring to the recent 
statement by a well known Episcopal Bishop to 
the effect that while pastors, in the name and 
church of Christ, should be leaders, they are not, 
but ''that in all times and in all places — from the 
very beginning of things — the priest has always 
taken his color from the people to whom he min- 
isters." And goes on to quote the district at- 
torney as holding that crime is not on the increase 
in the lower or higher classes, and particularly 
that high society is not going to the dogs, or is 
better or worse than ever. He is also made to 
defend the church as being of ''high moral tone !" 



CAUSE OF CRIME-THE CHURCH 239 

CRIME ON THE INCREASE 

If we are able to look fairly at things as they 
are, the fact is apparent, it is here contended, that 
crime — murder, robbery, assault and suicide — is 
on the increase, and notoriously so. 

Under all the circumstances, and considering 
the subject from all points of view, the words of 
the district attorney are surprising, and the 
words of the bishop are peculiarly surprising. 
To both we enter our dissenting protest. 

A New York morning paper, November 17, 
1906, contained the following: ''During the last 
five years 45,000 persons were murdered in the 
United States. More persons were murdered last 
year than died of typhoid fever. This awful total 
has been due to the way in which the law was ad- 
ministered. And the law itself is bad and ineffi- 
cient. It is burdened with restrictions and tech- 
nicalities, and in almost every case the criminal 
has nine chances of escaping, to one of being found 
guilty ! 

"So declared Judge Marcus Kavanagh last night 
in an address before the alumnae of St. Ignatius's 
College on 'Enforcement of the Law in Large 
Cities.' He declared that the United States was 
the most criminal country in the world and the jury 
system the most loose and antiquated." (Chicago.) 



240 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

THE UNDEIiLYING AND PROXIMATE CAUSE 
OF CRIME 

World sin-sickness is the real cause of crime ! 
And the cause of this universal disease of sin-sick- 
ness is the positive unfaithfulness of the church ! 
The conditions now prevalent are recurrences of 
similar conditions many times existing in the 
world. 

The paradoxical truth is evident. Notwith- 
standing the great increase of crime, yet, on the 
whole, it is equally evident that the world is con- 
stantly growing better ; that is to say, the truest 
type of manhood is ever gradually growing and 
developing unto the human station designed be- 
fore the foundation of the world ; towards that 
completed creation of man in the image and like- 
ness of God — not in outline and form, but in 
spiritual unfoldment and substance. 

The Bishop referred to errs when he says, prac- 
tically, that the priest has never been better than 
his parishioners. Can such be the final result of 
his observation and experience? Does he forget 
the innumerable reformers, sincere, honest, self- 
sacrificing, who have enthusiastically forsaken ease 
and comfort, often luxuriousness for the iniqui- 
tous inquisition, the torture chamber, and the 
stake ? And how about the countless hordes suf- 
fering martyrdom, willingly, joyously, for God 
and conscience, in all ages, in spite of the estab- 
lished though in reality fallen church? 



CAUSE OF CRIME-THE CHURCH 241 

There is a far deeper cause of crime than is 
generally recognized. It is deeper than the law 
can reach. You can enact laws prohibiting crime, 
but they don't do it. Something more than the 
lower nature, the brutal animal, has to be reached 
and developed — the higher nature, the real man, 
and this was the office of Religion to perform, and 
the promulgation of Religion devolved upon the 
church, but the church is now false and always has 
been false, the most of the time, periodically to- 
wards the close of each of the great prophetical 
days or religious dispensations ; the periods when 
God has revealed anew His heavenly teachings for 
the guidance and direction of His creatures. Un- 
doubtedly the vast majority of imported criminals 
referred to by the police-head come to these shores 
from "Christian" lands. While the church in the 
United States is in a terribly sin-sick state, it may 
not be and probably is not as deplorably bad as in 
some of the foreign Christian countries. 

The Roman Catholic Church, though not in con- 
trol of this government, is wonderfully potent in 
influence and power, and in many other countries 
far more potent — in some cases the dominant 
power. It assumes, and wholly without divine 
authority, among other things, to grant remission 
of sins, and plenary dispensations which, in fact, 
are practically and in effect the same old diaboli- 
cally wicked man-invented schemes of indulgence 
selling, of centuries ao^o! Ever since the fourth 



242 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

century this church has been far more devoted to 
money getting, to luxurious living, to politics, 
than to God and His incomparable cause of eternal 
Truth ! 

The Creek Church has for years been the dom- 
inant power in Russia, and, so far as the general 
welfare of the people is concerned, what is there 
beside grossest injustic, tyranny, oppression, and 
outrageous slaughter of the innocent in that great, 
but benighted and barbarian country ? It is only 
necessary to mention the ignorance and poverty 
of the down-trodden masses, and the inhuman 
massacres of the Jews. 

Then there is the Protestant Church "of Christ" 
with its large number of conflicting and quarrelling 
divisions and sects. There were more than thirty 
of those sects or denominations represented at the 
Church Parliament or Convention held in New 
York in 1906. Some of the ablest lights among 
the delegates there clearly proved they were in no 
wise justified in claiming to be ministers of Christ 
and the called of God. This was made sufficiently 
apparent by their making labored arguments to 
prove the impossible, namely, Jesus, the man of 
Nazareth, to be greater than God ! Think of it ! 
To know absolutely nothing of the reality of the 
Christ life, works, and teachings ! They also 
labored to prove that Christianity is the only true 
religion, and other equally absurd and false prop- 
ositions. 



CAUSE OF CRIME-THE CHURCH 243 

Now let us consider a few of the absolute fals- 
ities of the modern church, questions it stands for 
in such wise as conclusively proves it to have lost 
almost totally the spirit of Christ's teachings, and 
to have forsaken the path of God. 

Its conception and propagation of the matter of 
the Trinity is one of the most potent examples, 
virtually transforming Christianity into polythe- 
ism, practically tantamount to Egyptian pagan- 
ism ! In contradistinction Jesus Christ and all 
the messengers of God have taught the oneness and 
singleness of God! 

Vicarious or blood Atonement and Redemption. 
In its treatment of this great but most simple mat- 
ter, the church makes it appear that the Eternal 
God could and did make a mistake ! There is ab- 
solutely no warrant in the utterances of Christ or 
in the Bible, in any Bible, for the easy going, 
false and misleading doctrine that Jesus Christ 
paid the debts of the sins of the world by His death 
and blood, providing we profess a belief in Him- 
and in God and join a church ! Rather, He de- 
clared and as plainly as could be, ''I am the way, 
the truth, the life — follow Me" ! The only possi- 
ble right construction, of these words is that we 
must do as He did, become characterized by His 
characteristics ! That is the Tinith, in a word, of 
atonement ! He showed us the way ! there is no 
other I 

Baptism. What a variety of thought and dis- 



244 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

agreement over this great and most important, yet 
very, very simple question to undersand. Readily 
understood, if we are able to let go of puffed up 
egotism. Jesus Christ clearly propounded the 
principles involved in the three baptisms ; first, 
that of water, signifying spiritual teachings of 
God, which, when we have heard and not rejected, 
we have partaken of the first baptism ; second, 
that of the spirit, when we have accepted and be- 
lieved and have faith in those heavenly teachings ; 
and third, the baptism of fire, the fiery trial and 
test, the countless obstacles in our path of attain- 
ment, the climbing the spiritual mountain of 
overcoming the world and selfsiS so beautifully set 
forth in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and in Wag- 
ner's Parsifal ! Indeed, the whole thing is to fol- 
low in the steps of Christ ! Verily, there is no 
other way. 

Resurrection. There is absolutely no sense or 
reason in the narrow, inadequate and false doctrine 
of the church in this matter of resurrection. The 
reality of resurrection is a great spiritual lesson. 
It is, as a matter of fact, the very time and fulfil- 
ment of resurrection now/ 

It is the same as to the day of judgment and 
many other great and important questions of 
vital moment to mankind. 

The creed and dogma of all three of the divi- 
sions of the Christian Church, and its sub-divis- 
ions, were invented and formulated by men cen- 



CAUSE OF CRIME-THE CHURCH 245 

turies ago, in plain violation of divine instructions 
and commands contained in both the Old and 
New Testaments. 

It does not require much ability or power of 
understanding to now clearly see that a church 
guilty of the foregoing, and which plainly holds 
open to the world of mankind perfect immunity 
from sin, if it but profess God and Christ and join 
the church, is the proximate cause of and is re- 
sponsible for moral degeneracy, weakness and 
crime ! By its easy methods and complacent at- 
titude ; by its criminal negligence ; by its deliber- 
ate disobedience of the Bible commands, the 
church as an institution fosters carelessness and 
finally hypocrisy and crime on the part of the in- 
dividual. 

What say you of these modern utterances ? A 
great minister of a Fifth Avenue church argues 
that "Christianity is the only God-made Religion. 
All others are man-made," and thus proclaimed 
his ignorance of the teachings of Christ, who 
fully ratified and confirmed "the religions of Abra- 
ham and Moses." That minister also made con- 
spicuous his lack of knowledge as to the reality 
of religion. It is clearly apparent he fails to 
realize that religion is revealed Truth from God, 
and is never of man. 

A pastor of a large and popular Broadway 
church* declares that any person questioning the 
fact, as he said, of the literal bodily ascension of 



246 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

the prophet Elijah with his chariot into Heaven 
should be condemned. This misguided and most 
unfortunate minister loudly proclaims also that 
Christians are not under the law of Sinai ^ hut are 
under grace. Both propositions are such plain 
examples of error; such self-evident deviation 
from God's Truth, I forbear underestimating the 
reader's intelligence with arguments and Biblical 
proofs. 

Another very popular and successful ( ?) min- 
ister, a renowned evangelist, actually refers to 
Mary, the mother of Jesus of Nazareth, as the 
mother of God ! No one with a pure, honest 
heart, needs the proof, easily given, that there is 
absolutely no Bible warrant for such a shameful 
statement. 

Another pastor, a very good and venerable man, 
with a great church for many years, refers to 
Jesus Christ as "The Wonderful, Counsellor, the 
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince 
of Peace." (Kead Isa. 9 : 6-7.) Yet Christ Him- 
self plainly declared He came not to bring peace, 
but a sword (the knowledge and power to divide 
Truth from error) ; that He did not the works of 
Himself, but of the Father who sent Him ; that 
God was His Father ; and in answer to a certain 
ruler who called Him "Good Master,'^ rebuked 
him, saying, "Why calleth thou Me Good? 
There's none Good but One, that is, God." 
That great and very important Isaiah prophecy 



CAUSE OF CRIME-THE CHURCH 247 

undeniably refers to the coming of the same One 
Christ called The Father, and in His parable of 
the Wicked Husbandmen, the Lord of the vine- 
yard. (Luke. 14:16-24; 20:9-18). 

Another very able and popular pastor not far 
from Fifth Avenue, New York, openly declares 
he has no use for "faith," which he classes with 
other Biblical expressions, as merely "sentimental" 
and as no longer needed. I would like to ask 
this minister if it would not be better to work for 
the reform of his church and of the people, rather 
than labor to revise and reverse or negative the 
eternal utterances of Christ and His Apostles and 
Disciples ? Let him and all reflect and know that 
the Word of God never changes ; that -it is the same 
yesterday, today and forever. Of a truth it is 
only those who are devoid of Faith, indeed of 
spirituality, who are unable to apprehend Faith. 

"Look ye at the time of Christ : had the people 
realized that the Holy Spirit of God was speaking 
to them through His Divine mouth, they would 
not have waited three centuries before accepting 
Him. And now is it meet for you that you are 
sleeping upon the beds of idleness and neglect, 
while the Father whose coming Christ foretold 
has come amongst us, and opened the Greatest 
Door of Bounteous Gifts and Divine Favors? 
Let us not be like those in past centuries, who 
were deaf to His Call, and blind to His Beauty ; 
but let us try and open our eyes, that we may see 



248 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

Him ; and open our ear» that we may hear Him ; 
and cleanse our hearts that He may come and abide 
in our temples. These days are the days of 
Faith and Deeds — not the days of words and lip 
service. Let us arise from the sleep of negligence, 
and realize what a great feast is prepared for us ; 
first eating thereof ourselves, then giving unto 
others who are thirsting for the Water of Knowl- 
edge, and hungering for the Bread of Life. These 
great days are swiftly passing ; and once gone they 
can never be recalled. So while the rays of the 
Sun of Truth are still shining and the "Center of 
the Covenant of God" is manifest, let us go forth 
to work ; for after a while the night will come and 
the way to the Vineyard will not then be so easy 
to find." (a. b. a.) 

The human being was ordained by God to become 
spiritual and loving. That is the meaning of being 
created in the image and likeness of God ; for God 
is Spirit, is Love. 

Religion always was, is and ever will be the 
source and basis of all Truth, real Education, true 
Guidance. It is the one kind of education that 
really educates. It alone unfolds, develops, per- 
fects the higher, the spiritual nature — the real 
man ! Summed up in one word — it is God- 
Knowledge 1 

When the church becomes so dead spiritually 
as to not only fail to promulgate the reality of 



CAUSE OF CRIME-THE CHURCH 249 

God-Knowledge — Truth, Love, Spirituality ; that 
is to say. Religion, but actually leads people astray 
in the downward path, rather than upward ; away 
from, rather than unto God and His eternal Truth, 
as it, the church, is in fact doing today ; when the 
church stands only for exaggerated intellectuality, 
with only a mere smattering of morality, and 
pi-actically no spirituality, has it not become as 
much of a corpse ready for interment, as was the 
church of the religion revealed through Abraham 
at the time the followers became Egyptian slaves 
and as was the church of the pretending followers 
of the prophet Moses when Jesus Christ arose at 
another call of God ? 

I sincerely wish it were not so, but there is ab- 
solutely no use in denying or ignoring the truth, 
the fact ; the most scathing indictment against the 
false church has to be returned ! "Mene, Mene, 

Tekel, Upharsin" ! Weighed in the balance 

and found wanting" ! 

The "Christian Church," speaking generally, is 
neither godly nor Christian. It is not only a nega- 
tive quantity and useless for good in the incom- 
parable cause of God, but it is guilty, grossly 
guilty of the high crime of wilfully deceiving and 
misleading the people. There is no other crime 
so great ! 

Deadness to God and His Truth, spiritually, is 
the fundamental, the proximate cause of crime. 



250 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 

It is submitted that a church which persists in 
disobeying the mandates of God by accepting and 
preferring man-made interpretations and construc- 
tions of the mysteries in the Bible, instead of wait- 
ing for the true explanations, as promised in both 
the Old and the New Testaments ; which refuses 
or neglects to obey the great and sufficient Truth 
promulgated by Jesus Christ and contained in the 
First and Second Great Commandments, in the 
Golden Rule, indeed, in the entire Sermon on the 
Mount, which doggedly adheres to false doctrines, 
creeds, beliefs, all man-invented, for which there 
is absolutely no support or warrant in the divine 
Scriptures — the materialistic story of Adam and 
Eve and the garden of Eden, of Noah and the 
flood, of Jonah and the whale, of the resurrection 
of the physical body of man composed of water 
and mineral and vegetable matter renewing and 
giving man in his ordinary lifetime many new, 
separate and distinct physical bodies ; of the resur- 
rection and ascent into the spiritual realms of the 
physical body of Jesus ; the doctrine of blood 
atonement and redemption in the crucifixion of 
Jesus Christ for the sins of the world to all who 
"believe" and "join the church'' ; the polytheistic 
God-head of three in the "Trinity" ; the habit of 
praying in public contrary to Christ's explicit 
direction ; the false, non-spiritual and inadequate 



CAUSE OF CRIME-THE CHURCH 251 

conception of the reality of baptism as clearly pro- 
pounded by Christ ; the persistence in presenting 
such woefully untrue and inadequate propagation 
of religion and biblical teachings as to make it 
impossible for honest, sincere and thoughtful 
truth-seekers to accept ; the maintaining of a sys- 
tem or profession of ministers and pastors in dia- 
metrically antagonistic opposition to the principles 
and rules established by Jesus Christ ; in holding 
to imagery impagan fashion and failing to acknowl- 
edge, obey and worship the One True God ; in 
these and in other things, the church, in its false 
attitude and spiritual deadnegs, has made of itself 
a debauched and filthy leper and has cast an in- 
fluence, so far as it could among able and thinking 
people, which has tended for centuries and now 
tends against rather than for God and His eternal 
and magnificent Kingdom of Truth. 

Thus the irrefutable conclusion is this : the in- 
dictment against the church, we sadly declare, 
must stand. There is no escape from this, for the 
church, in directly promoting among the children 
of God vain ego instead of childlike humility ; dis- 
simulation and deceit instead of candor and sincer- 
ity ; hypocrisy instead of truth and honesty ; false 
instead of true belief and faith, has succeeded tin 
making of itself the fundamental and proximate 
cause and tremendously active promoter of crime. 

The foregoing being the positive truth of fact, 
it is clearly self-evident that the only cure for crime 



252 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

lies in the striking at the very root of things, 
namely, obedience to the irrevocable Christ com- 
mand : ''jSeek ye first the Kingdom of God and His 
Righteousness'' I 

Is it not most natural that the beginning must 
be made with the Church itself ? But is it possible ? 
The established church of the world in the time of 
Christ had to go under, practically speaking, and 
will it not be that way now again ? The church is 
far more needy of repentance and conversion, than 
is the majority of comparatively innocent and sin- 
cere laity, and, indeed, the majority of the people 
outside of the church ! The hope is again in the 
humble people, the simple fishermen, as it was 
withthe beginning of Christianity ! We must be- 
come reconciled to God and ourfellowmen. Then 
there will be no crime. 



PEACE 



CHAPTER IX 




NOW thou, verily, the Sun of Truth 
hath shone forth with the Lights of 
Peace upon all regions. Strife and 
conflict will surely be removed from 
among all the nations of the earth. Carnage shall 
be taken away. Fighting, violence and reviling 
will be changed into universal reconciliation, and 
the hosts of tranquility will pitch their tents in 
the midst of the world. Then the Awning of the 
Mercy of thy Lord will be hoisted, and those souls 
who are free from the filth of prejudice, contra- 
dictions and presimiption, and are filled with a 
love that imparts affinity, intimacy, affection, 
meekness and humbleness, will be sheltered under 
it. Upon thee be greeting and praise." (Abdul 
Baha. Translated from the Persian.) 

Open letter to Honorable Andrew Carnegie, 
President, and the Officers and Members of the 
National Arbitration and Peace Congress : 

**You are respectfully invited to carefully con- 
sider the following remarkable words, so mani- 
festly pertinent at this particular time. 

Professor Edward G. Browne, of Cambridge 
University, England, in 'A Traveller's Narrative' 
(Macmillan & Co., 1891), referring to his first 



254 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

meeting with His Holiness Baha'Ullah,|said in part : 

'Though I dimly suspected whither I was go- 
ing and whom I was to behold (for no distinct 
intimation had been given to me), a second or 
two elapsed ere, with a throb of wonder and awe, 
I became definitely conscious that the room was 
not untenanted. In the corner where the divan 
met the wall sat a wondrous and venerable 
figure, crowned with a felt headdress of the 
kind called taj by dervishes (but of unusual 
height and make), round the base of which was 
wound a small white turban. The face of him 
on whom I gazed I can never forget, though I can 
never describe it. Those piercing eyes seemed to 
read one's very soul ; power and authority sat on 
that ample brow ; while the deep lines on the fore- 
head and face implied an age which the jet-black 
hair and beard flowing down in indistinguishable 
luxuriance almost to the waist seemed to belie. No 
need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed 
myself before one who is the object of a devotion 
and love which kings might envy and emperors 
sigh for in vain ! 

'A mild, dignified voice bade me be seated, and 
then continued : — Traise be to God that thou hast 
attained ! . . . Thou hast come to see a prisoner 
and an exile. . . . We desire but the good of the 
world and the happiness of the nations ; yet they 
deem us a stirrer up of strife and sedition worthy 
of bondage and banishment. . . . That all nations 



PEACE 255 

should become one in faith and all men as brothers ; 
that the bonds of affection and unity between the 
sons of men should be strengthened ; that diversity 
of religion should cease, and differences of race 
be annulled — what harm is there in this? . . . 
Yet so it shall be ; these fruitless strifes, these 
ruinous wars shall pass away, and the most great 
peace shall come. . . . Do not you in Europe 
need this also ? Is not this that which Christ fore- 
told ? . . • Yet do we see your kings and rulers 
lavishing their treasures more freely on means for 
the destruction of the human race than on that 
which would conduce to the happiness of mankind. 
. . . These strifes and this bloodshed and dis- 
cord must cease and all men be as one kindred 
and one family. . . . Let not a man glory in this, 
that he loves his country ; let him rather glory in 
this, that he loves his kind. ..." 

'Such, as far as I can recall them, were the 
words which, besides many others, I heard from 
Baha. Let those who read them consider well 
with themselves whether such doctrines merit death 
and bonds, and whether the world is more likely 
to gain or lose by their diffusion.* 

Count Gobineau of France, Baron Rosen of 
Russia, and Professor Browne of England, above 
quoted, are the most distinguished and (authorita- 
tive Persian and Oriental Religion historians; 

In connection with the foregoing and in view 
of the wonderful world happenings of the present 



256 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

time, I beg to submit for your earnest considera- 
tion, the following words of Christ and the proph- 
ets regarding ^^He whom God shall manifest^''' Who 
was to come to establish on earth ''The Most Great 
Peace^'^^ or in other words, the Kingdom of God! 
This Great One was described by Moses, speaking 
prophetically, in these words : 

"He came (will come) with ten thousands of 
saints (meaning true believers on earth at the time 
of that coming"). (Deut. 33 : 2.) 

By Isaiah : "For a Child (shall be) born to us, 
and a Son (shall be) given to us, and the govern- 
ment (shall be) upon His shoulder : and His Name 
shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God the 
Mighty, The Father of the world to come (see 
Rev. 21), The Prince of Peace ! His empire shall 
be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace; 
He shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon 
His Kingdom ; to establish it and strengthen it 
with judgment and with justice from henceforth; 
the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." 
(Isa.9:6-7 Douay V.) 

By Zacharias : "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts : 
I am returned (shall return) to Zion, and I will 
dwell in the midst of Jerusalem (Heavenly or 
Spiritual conditions) ; and Jerusalem shall be called 
the City of Truth, and the Mountain of the Lord 
of Hosts, the Sanctified Mountain (Mountain of 
God, Carmel. Isa. 35 : 1-3 : 64:9-17.) ... Be- 
hold I will save my people from the land of the 



PEACE 257 

East, and from the land of the going down of the 
sun. And I will bring them, and they shall dwell 
in the midst of Jerusalem (meaning true religion) : 
and they shall be my people, and I will be their 
God in Truth and in Justice." (Zech. 8 : 3, 7, 8 
Douay.) 

By Daniel : ''I beheld therefore in the vision of 
the night, and lo. One like the Son of Man came 
with the clouds of heaven (earthly human condi- 
tions), and he came even to the Ancient of Days 
(the Manifestation of God in the great Station of 
the Father) : and they presented him before Him. 
And He gave him power, and Glory, and a King- 
dom : and all peoples, tribes and tongues shall 
serve Him : His power is an everlasting power that 
shall not be taken away : and His Kingdom that 
ghall not be destroyed." (Dan. 7 : 13-14 Douay 
Vulgate.) 

By Jesus Christ : *The Lord of the Vineyard 
(God, the Father Manifestation) will come and 
will destroy these husbandmen (undutiful clergy- 
men) , and,will give the Vineyard (earth) to others." 
Lu. 20 : 15, 16.) 

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the 
end, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and 
which is to come, the Almighty." (Rev.l : 8.) 

"And I wept much because no man was found 
worthy to open the Book (the revealed Religion 
of God) nor to see it. And one of the ancients 
said to me : weep not ; behold the Lion of the 



258 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

tribe of Juda, the root of David (the Manifesta- 
tion ot God), hath prevailed to open the Book, 
and to loose (explain) the Seven Seals (seven great 
religious systems of the world) thereof." (Rev^ 
5 : 4, 5 Douay.) 

"And there were great voices in heaven, saying : 
The Kingdoms of this world are (shall) become 
the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ ; and 
He shall reign forever and ever." (Rev. 11: 15) ; 
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. . . . 
And I John saw the Holy City, the New Jeru- 
salem (new religious revelation), coming down out 
of heaven from God. . . . And He that sat on 
the Throne (lofty spiritual station of power and 
glory) said : Behold, I make all things new." (21 : 
1-5). "And the City hath no need of the sun, nor 
of the moon, to shine in it. For the Glory of 
God hath enlightened it, and the Lamb (the Christ 
or Sonship Spirit of God at Its Second Coming 
with The Father) is the Lamp thereof. And the 

NATIONS SHALL WALK IN THE LIGHT OF IT : and the 

kings of the earth shall bring their glory and 
honour into it." (v 23, 24.) 

It was the Great Manifestation of God referred 
to in the foregoing and innumerable other proph- 
ecies, who uttered the remarkable words first here 
quoted from historian Browne. 

While the aim and work of your organization is 
admirable and intended for the best of purposes 
and results, is it not worth your while to consider 



PEACE 259 

''striking at the root" with your efforts by acting 
as free-will agencies of the Divine Truth, Will 
and Love, in earnestly propagating His revelation 
of true religion, so grand and so supremely well 
calculated to not only work for the cause of Peace, 
but bring about, and more rapidly and effectively 
than in any other way possible, the literal Brother- 
hood of man under, for, and with the Fatherhood 
of God in Oneness and singleness? 

Is it not high time to recall the conditions pre- 
ceding and attending the fall of practically all great 
nations of the past ? In every case it was because 
the people had forgotten and turned away from 
God ! Success ( ?) in war and conquest, achieve- 
ment in the arts and sciences, high intellectual de- 
velopment and therewith intense vain ego : these 
were the causes, as clearly seen from this distant 
viewpoint, of the decline and fall and extinction 
of vast nations and cities and peoples, shortly fol- 
lowing the zenith of their power and material 
grandeur. Are not we in America in just about 
the same condition of those past great nations just 
prior to their dissolution ? Shall not we take warn- 
ing of that past? Why not come to our senses 
and quickly ? Why not realize, and before too late, 
that mere mental growth will not save us anymore 
than will physical prowess ? International agree- 
ment or law alone will no more save us, than do 
our present Statutory Laws of prohibition prevent 
or even lessen murder and other crimes ! It is in- 



260 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

deed time to take to sackcloth and ashes humility 
before and acknowledge, worship and serve the 
One God, in Spirit and in Truth ! This Christian 
world of ours is already drifted into polytheism, 
which is substantially the same sort of idolatry as 
Egyptian paganism. These things may not be 
pleasant things to hear, nor is it pleasant to face 
the alternative of leg amputation, but it is more 
foolish and fatal by millions of times to turn from 
God as we have been and are doing, than to hide 
our gangrene leg from the surgeon. We must 
face the situation. Let us right-about-face ! 

Very respectfully. 
New York, April 14, 1907- Arthur P. Dodge.'' 

A duplicate of this "Open Letter" was mailed 
by noon of April 15, 1907, to ''Hon. Andrew 
Carnegie, President of the National Arbitration 
and Peace Congress, 19 West 44th Street (Room 
8), New York," also to each of three prominent 
New York City daily newspapers. No acknowl- 
edgment whatever has been received, nor was it 
observed that there has been any attempt at the 
discussion of the wonderful Tidings included in 
and forming the basis of that ''Open Letter." 

From the observation of the writer at the one 
meeting of said Congress he attended in Carnegie 
Hall, and from the general and voluminous press 
notices of all its meetings, largely composed of in- 
tense members of what appeared to be a sort of 



PEACE • 261 

perpetual mutual admiration society, there was, it 
seems, a conspicuous absence of anything which 
might be well calculated to promote the avowed 
objects of said Congress. 

On the contrary, there was clearly in evidence 
frequent manifestations of rivalry, jealousy, in- 
justice and even decidedly un-Christian disagree- 
ments, and worse still, open contentious warfare, 
some nearly coming to actual blows, apparently, 
right on the platform in front of vast audiences ! 
— Think of that sort of an ensemble in the Name 
of God and His Christ ! That gathering of mighty 
men, mighty with loud eloquence clamoring for 
peace — ''When there was no peace" — in the way 
they went about getting it ! The only possible 
way of attaining the ''Most great Peace" on earth 
they wholly ignored. Who were those delegates 
and speakers other than "Scribes and Pharasees, 
hypocrites" to be driven from a desecrated t«mple 
service under presumptuous claims of heavenly 
auspices ? What was there in that ' 'Peace Con- 
gi'ess," let us ask, which could be construed as 
making for Peace on earth ? For the world Brother- 
hood of Man ? For the universal Fatherhood of 
God in Oneness and Singleness? Vain individual 
ego and prodigious clamoring for notoriety, praise 
and mutual admiration will accomplish nothing for 
the object stated, any more than the assinine ego 
of a villanous Nero could avert the rapid decline 
and fall of the once great mistress of the world, 



262 WHENCE? WHY? WHITHER? 

the Eoman Empire. In both instances puerile 
man was and is such a consummate fool as to 
think he could or can accomplish anything worth- 
while without fully acknowledging and constantly 
striving to faithfully serve God and His Incompar- 
able Cause. 

There will never be ''Peace on earth and good- 
will to men" through law, dogmatic degree, or 
mere intellectual effort. It can only come through 
conversion, real conversion : not by being con- 
verted to a false church or creed, but by being in 
reality converted to God and His Truth ! And 
positively the only way thereunto is through in- 
dividual and personal overcoming of self and the 
world ! When Jesus Christ before His crucifixion 
declared ''I have overcome the world !'^ the Jew 
murderers could not understand, but laughed in 
derision. 

It is up to us to be about the accomplishment 
of the main, the real work of life. That is our 
business — to attain unto a knowledge of and One- 
ness with our real and only Father — God. And 
that is only possible by possessing a pure heart, 
and this is possible only by becoming like unto a 
little child, and this means becoming personally 
possessed of the Christ characteristics ! There- 
fore let go of peace congresses — unless for the 
purposes herein set forth, for mere laws or agree- 
ments in an intellectual sense are but one remove 



PEACE 263 

from and above the brute force of the barbarian 
savage ! 

Let man seek to know himself and his God ; 
let him become regenerated, then the inevitable 
result will be the Brotherhood of Man and 

THE MOST GREAT PEACE ON EARTH ! 



INDEX 



Aaron, 86 

Abel, the higher nature, 25, 183 
Abdul Baha Abbas, the "Son of 
Man," 87 

on the object of man's creation, 
15 

explains "many mansions," 20 

birth, 22 

immortality, «&c., 24 

short prayer, 40 

on servituUe, &c., to two young 
Americans* 119-120 

to Jonah, a Persian believer, 
134-5 

on the Trinity, 196 

on Faith and Deeds, 247-8 

on peace, 253 
Abraham, 14, 27, 150, 230 
Abomination of desolation, the, 

112, 215 
Abu Bakr, 35-6 
Abul Faz], Mirza, 29, 121 
Adam, 26, 27, 46. 53 
Adamic era, 14 
Adams, Charles Francis, 180 
Ages, we o the, 27 
Alfonso d' Albuquerque, 167 
Allegory, 78, 127, 214 
Alpha and Omega, 100, 257 
Ameer Ali, M. A., Judge, Syed, 30 
Ancient of days, 79, 87 
Angels, 79, 84, 116 
Animals, 12 
Apostles* creed, 187 
Assad*ullah, JMirza. in his "Sa- 
cred Mysteries," 134 
Asylums for mental and moral as 

well as physical ills, 222 
Atonement, 55, 192, 215 
Attributes of Christ, of God, 11, 41, 
62,74 

Bab, the (see Elijah the same Ad- 
vancer spirit, Mai. 3 : 1), 63, 92 
Babis of Persia, 74 
Babi year, 75 
Bahai Revelation, 74, 75 



Bahais, already several millionfl, 

122 
Baha 'Ullah (The Glory of God!), 
24, 44, 58 
the "Glory of His Father," 81 
is "God Manifest in the flesh," 81 
the Alpha and Omega, 79 
the Ancient of Days, 79 
Hidden Words by Him," Pre- 
face, 40, 63, 64 
the One worthy, 71 
the Father, 78 

to Prof. Browne on Peace, 254-5 
to the Shah of Persia, 123-4 
all created from one clay, 177 
Babylon, destruction of, prophe- 
sied, 235 
Baptibm, the three baptisms, the 

truth, 141, 215, 243 
Beast, 84, 133 

Bible, the, part 2, chapter 4, 50 
letter and spirit, 55 
never been read, 56-7 
many Bibles, 58 
Douay Vulgate, 58 
in many tongues, 59 
crime to possess it, 61, 204 
explanation, 218, 219 
falsely interpreted, 227, 228 
Bible student, a superficial one, 

part 3, chapter 5, 137 
Births, the three, 21 
"Blood Atonement," 55 
♦•Book, The," 152 
Bread, 84 
British and Foreign Bible Society, 

59 
Brotherhood of Man and Father- 
hood of God, 143, 176, 215 
Browne, Prof. Edward G., on Per- 
sia and prophecy, 69, 70, 71, 73, 
74, 75, 253 
Buckley, J. M., 207 

Caiaphas, the high priest, 160 
Cain, the lower nature, 25, 183 
Capen, President Elmer H.. 208 



INDEX 



265 



Capital and Labor, part 4, chapter 

3,178 
Carnegie, Hon. Andrew, 253 
Caucasian race, 166 
Cause and effect, 8, 10, 182 
Cause of God, 262 
Church indicted, 251 

needs conversion, 252 
Churoh, the, which Christ founded 
139 
modern, a money market, 104 
a bad landlord, 175 
Roman Catholic, 241 
Greek, 242 

false in belief and teahings, 30, 

32, 37 60-62, 151, 152, 220, 249, 

250, 251 

(see Charter of Mohammed, 32) 

false church of all systems, 108, 

ISl, 137, 200 
cause of crime, 240, 249 
••Christian in name only,** 188 
heretical, 202, 220 
Christianity, 30 
Christian Science, 198 
*• City,** 85 

Clergy, last to accept God's Reve- 
lation always, 154 
the wicked husbandmen of 
Christ's parables, 154 
Clergymen, a layman's sermon to, 

part 2, chapter 7, 103 
Cloud, 85, 87, 88 
Confucianism, 30 
Corporate power danger foretold 

by C. F. Adams, 1871, 180 
Cosmo de*Medici, 168 
Covenant of God's Religion, 64 
Crapsey, Rev. Dr. Algernon S., 

187 
Creation, 10, 14, 41 
Genesis account, 53 
now going on as ever, 155 
Creative days or cycles, 14 
Creator, 13, 41, 181 
Creed, 14 , 15S, 187 
Crime, in the name of Religion 
and the Bible, 61, 151 
Cause of, pai-t 4, chapter 8, 238 



Crime, church the cause, 240, 249 

on the increase, 239 
Crusade wars, 39 

Daniel the Prophet, 257 

Day, 5 kinds in Bible, 86, 88, 94 

of judgment, 214 

of most great peace, the, 122 
Dead men, spiritually, 64 
Disobedience of God, 70, 71 
Dispensations, 120, 195 

prophesied of, 233 

signs of the new, 121 
Divine Attributes, 9, 11 
Divine Commands, 177 
Dodge, Arthur P., 207 
Dogma, 140, 153 
Dogmatisms, 7 

Douay-Vulgate Bible the best, 58 
Dumb animals, 12 

Earth and Heaven, new, 96 
proclaimed a sphere in Bible, 
230 

Eddy, Mary Baker Glover Patter- 
son Glover, 198 

Educated, 159 

Education, 13, 53, 157, 159, 162, 163, 
170 
**to solve race problem,'* erron- 
iously alleged, 164 

Educators, divine, 184 

Egyptian bondage, 150 

Electric cars prophesied, 235 

Elijah, the messenger spirit in ad- 
vance, as Elijah, then as John, 
and then again as The Bab, 63 

Eleven Questions to noted Relig- 
ionists, part 4, chapter 5, 206 

Elohim,41 

Essence of life, 182 

Eve, 53 

Explanations of Bible, 219 

Faith, 76, 141 

minister has no use for, 247 

and deeds, 248 
Fall of man, 106, 150 
Fall of nations, 259 
False Christs, 216 



266 



INDEX 



False doctrines, 250 

"Father" is Baha'Ullah, the God 

Manifestation, 78 
Fazl, Mirza Abul. 29, 121 
Fettishism, 30 
Fictitious greatness, 167 
Fiery flame, &c.. 95 
••Flesh," 94 

GeseniuB. 26 

Glory of God Manifestation, the, 

(Baha'Ullah), 58 
Goats, unbelievers, 109 
Gobineau, Count, 255 
God, part 2, chapter 2, 40, 181 
God, at one with, 157 
God is One Lord, 41, 152, 153 
God is Spirit, Love, 41 
God-Knowledge, 154, 157-160, 162, 

163, 176, 248 
God, Names of, 41-45 
God's eternal truth, 7 
God, the Author of all, even every 

true idea, 174 
Good master, 190 
Gospel of the Kingdom, 59, 112 
Grave, beyond the, 161 
Greatest Branch, 93 
Greatness, true and false, 164- 
Guidance and direction, 8 

Habit, 174 

Hagar, 230 

Harper, William R., 208 

Harris Hooper, 71 

''He Whom God Shall Manifest." 

256 
Heaven, 95 

and earth, new, 96 
Hebrew, 10, 26, 41, 42, 43, 89 
Henry VIII, 164 
Heresy, the Crapsey case, the 

truth of it, part 4, chapter 4, 

187 
Higher nature, 25 
Hillis, Rev. Dr., 157 
Hinduism, 30 
Holy City, new, Acca, 85 
Holy Land. 215 
"Horn," 97 



Human stations, degrees or king, 
doms, 136, 155 

Idolatry, 44 

Image and likeness of God, 10, 18, 

155 
Imaginations, 7 
Immaculate conception, 190 
Immortality, 19 
Infancy to maturity, 21 
Inhabited planets, the "many 

mansions," 156 
Ishmael, 230 
Inspiration, 14 

as much to-day as ever, 155 
Instinct in dumb animals, 12 
Intellect, the, not "the noblest 

part of man," 142 
Intellectuality run mad, 157 
"In tune with the Infinite," 27 
Intercommunication with God, 12, 

156 
Inventions, 7 
Islam, 30, 31 

Jackson, Andrew, 145, 147, 148 
Jesus Christ, 14, 46, 47 
and Christ,— must differentiate, 

191 
a prophet, 202, 229 
prophesied of, 232 
as God, falsely claimed, 138, 189 
In My Father's House are many 

mansions, 19 
I have yet many things to say, 

&c., 28 
God it a Spirit, 40 
The first commandment, 41 
Why callest thou Me Good? 41 
Differentiate between Jesus the 

man, and Christ, 48 
I must preach the kingdom, 51, 

59 
It is written in the prophets, 63 
Seeing ye see not, &c., 65 
Tree is known by its fruit, 68 
Lord of the vineyard, 69 
Kings strove to extinguish ; now 

worship, 73 
Have spoken in proverbs, but 



INDEX 



267 



hereafter plainly, 78, 127 

My sheep hear My Voice, 103, 
118 

My kingdom is not of this world, 
103 

I come to bear witness unto the 
Truth. All of truth hear, 103 

Except ye be converted, shall 
not enter the kingdom, 103 

Preached the gospel of the king- 
dom , 109, 110 

The second coming, 88, 113-117 

Coming in the Father's Glory, 
118 

No man can come to Me except 
the Father, &c., 118 

Ratified and confirmed the pro- 
phets, 125, 213, 229 

I have overcome the world, 151 

Blind guides, 188 

The Lord of the Vineyard, 257 

Kingdom, 258 

They will put you out of syna- 
gogues, 4&C., 189 

Mission and teachings, 212 
Jews, 142 

humiliation and dispersion, 234 
Johnston, Rev. R. P., 210 
Jonah and the whale, 54 

Part 3, chapter 4, 126 
Judaism, 30, 249 
Judgment, day of, 214 
Judas Iscariot, 120 

Kingdom, signs of the, part 3, 
chapter 1, 109 
of God on earth, the, part 3, 

chapter 2, 118 
proofs of the, 123 
Kingdoms or stations of man, 155 
King Henry VIII, a cox-comb, 164 
King of kings, 22 
Kitten, the, 12 
Knowledge, 12, 26, 51, 153, 154, 158- 

160, 162, 163 
Knowledge and wisdom, true, de- 
fined, 174 

Lactantius, 27 

Landlords, notorious, church so- 
cieties, 175 



••Lamps**— prophets, 49 
Law, supreme, 8, 48, 132 
Layman's, a, sermon to clergy- 
men, 103 
"Learned," 159 
••Letters of the living,** 74 
Life, real, 183 

tree of, 63 
Logos, 181 
Lord of Lords (Baha*Ullah, Zech. 

8), 22 
Lord of the vineyard, 218 
Louis XV, 145, 147 
Love, 27, 119 

Macrocosm, 23,156,185 
Man, the predicate, part 1, chapter 
1,7 
whence? part 1, chapter 2, 10 
why? •• •* 3,12 

whither? •• " 4.18 

Man's existence, 13 
stations or kingdoms, 136, 155, 
182 
Mankind, all from one clay, 177 
Mansions, many, 156 
Mary Magdalen, 89 , ,, ^^^ 
••Mary mother of God,** 246 
Mathematics, 47 
Messengers of God, 63; different 

68 
Microcosm, 23, 156, 185 
Minister, Christ's and Paul*s defi- 
nition of, 107, 108, 194 
Ministers, 83, 84, 200, 220 

statements by, 245 
Miriam, 86 

•'Miracles,** 97, 126. 132 
Misleading of the people, 193 
Mohammed, 14, 32, 33, 35 
succeeded in spite of enemies, 
73, 217 
Mohammedan nation prophesied, 

230 
Mohammedanism, 30 

charter to Christians, 32 

to the missionaries, 33 

sermon on the mount, 33 

oath of Mohammed, 37 
Moon, refiected light, 89 



268 



INDEX 



Moses, 14, 27, 85, 86, 150, 217 
Mo8helm*8 Church History, 198 
Moslem society, 31 

writers, 31 
Most great Peace, 263 
Mount Seir, 217 

Sinai, 217 

Paran, 218 

••Names" of the prophets, 47, 74 
Nations of the past, 166 
Nature, higher and lower, 183,184. 
Negligence, bed of, 64 
••Negro a child race,'* 168 

of true greatness, 167 
Nero, 145, 147, 164, 261 
Nelson, G. F., 210 
♦•Never to pass away," 151 
Newberry, A. W., 209 
Nicene creed, 187 
Noah, 26, 27 

and the deluge, 54 
♦•Number of all things," 75 
Oath of Mohammed, 37 
Oneness of and with God, 11 

and Singleness of God, 49, 196 
Orientals religious, 172 
Overcome, 103, 262 

Pagans, 49 
Paine, Thomas, 37 
Palestine, rehabilitation of, 114 
Parable, 78, 127, 214 
Passover, 118 

Paul unlearned foolish ♦♦learn- 
ing." 174 
Peace Congress, 253-263 

on earth, &c.,262 
Peace, day of, 122, part 4, chapter 

9,253 
♦•Peace, peace, when there Is no 

peace," 181 
People, voice of the, 144 

the illiterate, 160 

two extreme classes, 60 
Peter, 69, 120, 160 
Philip II, 145, 147 
Polytheists, 49 
Potter, Bishop, 210 
Prejudice, 174 



Priest-craft, 148, 160 

Prodigies, physical and mental, 

170 
Prophets, 47, 63 

by Babis in Persia, 74 

are ••lamps," 48 

proof of true ones, 68, 72 

were all ratified and confirmed 
by Jesus Christ, 125 
Prophetic day, 194 
Prophecy, part 2, chapter 5, 63 

Kitto's Bible History, 67 

fulfilled, 227, 256-258 

of Mohammedan nation, 230 

telegraph, 231 

Jesus Christ, 232 

dispensations, 233 

humiliation and dispersion of 
the Jews, 234 

destruction of Babylon, 235 

electric cars, 235 

river Nile closed up, 237 
resurrection, 92 
Proverbs, 78, 127 
Puritan fathers, 200 
Purpose of man, 12, 15 

Race Problem, the, part 4, chapter 

2,164 
Reform, real, 108 
Reformers, 205 
Reign, 97 
Religion, part 2, chapter 1, 26-89 

God-made, not man-made, 28 

source of all, 248 
Religionists, noted, 206 
Renan, Ernest, 27 
Religious dispensations, 69, 120, 
195 

Revelations, 40, SO 

7 great systems, 152 

systems. 29. 30 

Remarkable prophecies fulfilled 
part 4, chapter 7, 227 
Resurrection, 91. 97, 193, 215, 244 
Revealed truth, 66 

the latest, 151 
Revelations, 152 
Richard, the lion-hearted, 39 



INDEX 



269 



River Nile cloeed up as prophe- 
sietl, 237 

Ro«l,97 

Roeder, Rev, Adolph, 211 

Roman Empire, 262 

Rosen, Baron, 255 

Royal roa<l, the one, 136 

Sabcanism, 30 

*'Saore(i Mysteries," 134 

Saints, 98 

Saladin, 39 

Saviour, 98, 190 

Sceptre, 99 

School-house, the world, 154 

Science too material and change- 
able, 173 

Scientific world, 160, 173. 183 

Seals, seven, 58 

Second coming of Christ— the Son- 
ship Spirit, 88, 215, 216, 217 

•*Seek ye first the Kingdom of 
God'*— to solve any problem, 
175, 176, 185, 252 

Sermon on the Mount, 108, 215 
extracts from, 161, 162 

Sermon to clergymen, 103 

Serpent, 99 

Shaw, George Bernard, the force- 
ful, erratic, part 4, chapter 6, 221 

Sheep, true believers, 109 

Signs of the kingdom, part 3, chap- 
ter 1, 109 

Son of Man, 87 
coming of the, 114 

Spirit of Truth underlying thruout 
this book, note, 144 
not the mere letter, 230 
only, corporeal, tangible, 160, 
173, 174 

Spirituality, loss of, 152-4 

Spiritually dead, 64, 249, 251 

Spiritual life, 183 

Staff, 97 

Stations of man, 136 

Stephens, Alexander H., 171 

Stick, 99 

Stires, Rev. Ernest M., 211 

Stokes, Anson Phelps, Jr., 211 



Suicide, 31 

Sun of God's Truth, 89 

Superficial Bible Student, A, part 

3, chapter 5, 137 
Superstition and imagination, 71 
Sword, 99 
Symbolic Words of the Bible, 

part 2, chapter 6, 78, 127, 214 
Symposium, 207,211 
Teachers, 205 
Teachings, divine, 27 
Telegraph prophesied, 231 
Temple of the Lord, 217 
Thomas, Dr., H, W. 209 
Tree of Life, 63 
Trinity, 196, 215 
Traditions, 7 
Trumpet, 99, 116 
Truth, 7, 8 
Universe, 8 
Universal law, 18 
Van de Water, George R., 209 
Vicarious Atonement, 55, 192, 243 
Virgin birth of Christ, 191 
Voice of the People, the, Andrew 

D. White, part 3, chapter 4, 

144 
♦*i8 the voice of God'*— not true, 

145 
Voltaire, 37 
Water, 101 
Whence? 10 
Why? 12 
Whither? 18 
Whale, 84, 133 
White, Andrew D., 144, 209 
•'Wicked Husbandmen," 154 
Williams. Roger, 200 
Wine, 101 
Word, the, 41, 87, 151, 181, 189, part 

2, chapter 3, 46 
Words, symbolic, 78 et seq 
Works, 141 
World, 14 

World school-house, 14, 41,154, 15*> 
Year, Babl, 75 
Zoroastrlanlsm, 30 



M.. S SSQc 



